Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Friday once again deferred indictment of former Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) chairman Zafar Hijazi in a record tampering case.

Special judge Irum Niazi had to frame charges against Hijazi in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills record tampering case on Friday, but she had to adjourn the hearing till October 27 due to the absence of the prosecutor.

Hijazi, , who is out on bail, has been booked in the case in the wake of the Supreme Court’s order in the Panama Papers case for allegedly tampering with financial records of the Sharif family’s company.

The Federal Investigation Agency took Hijazi into custody in July, after a report released by the Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) alleged that the former SECP chairman had altered records related to the Chaudhry Sugar Mills.

It found Zafar Hijazi guilty of record tampering and recommended criminal proceedings against him and two of his subordinates – Ali Azeem and Maheen Fatima – under Section 466, 472, PPC read with 5(2) Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) 1947.

SECP Director Maheen Fatima had accused the SECP chairman of exerting pressure on her to blame the Panamagate JIT of misbehaving with her during an interrogation session.

In her statement to the investigating team, she asserted that the money laundering investigation against Chaudhry Sugar Mills was closed on the chairman’s directives.

Published in Daily Times, October 21^st 2017.