Daily Times

KARACHI: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has exonerated three senior officials of AKD Securities from all the charges levelled against them in the FIR by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) scam.

The double bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, while issuing detailed judgment the other day, said that the action of FIA was unlawful as the accused persons have not committed any crime and the FIA team has nominated them in the inquiry report after a long time and without any reason. Furthermore, a two-member bench said that the FIA had no jurisdiction to lodge FIR against them without the written complaint by the competent authority.

The apex court, while turning the petition into appeal, said, “This is an aspect the learned trial court would determine.”

The detailed judgment issued by the apex court the other day, stated, “It was clearly mentioned in the FIR that nine brokerage houses played a role in the acquisition of Amtex shares by EOBI, led by Amcap Securities, an affiliate of Amtex and foundation securities jointly or severally procured all the shares under sale transactions with the other brokerage houses. However, except the petitioners, none of the proponents in these principal brokerage houses has been arrested indeed as noted above; most of the other nominated accused are absconders. Neither the petitioners nor AKD are alleged to have entrusted with any funds or properties of the EOBI. Consequently, it cannot be the petitioners’ case that AKD or the petitioners committed any offence under Section 409 PPC by misapplying or misappropriating the funds of EOBI. Such allegations, if at all, can pertain to persons who committed the covert acts of exercising control over and of deciding the investment. These are the accused nominated at the end of the FIR comprising inter alia, controllers of EOBI, Amtex and Amcap Securities.”

It was also said in the judgment that if petitioners or AKD Securities highlighted the inaccurate statements in their reports, yet such errors alone cannot make them liable for offences under the PPC.

It was further said in the judgment that none of the allegations by the prosecution made against the petitioners are cognisable under section 475 of the ordinance nor can be prosecuted without a complaint in writing by the SECP or the regulator. Moreover, FIA has no jurisdiction to investigate the said offences under the Securities and Exchange Ordinance 1969. Consequently, the prosecution case against AKD Securities and the petitioners for alleged commission of offence under Section 409 PPC read with Section 109 PPC at present discloses a case of further inquiry. “Resultantly, the petition is converted into appeal and allows the same. The petitioners are granted bail in terms of our short order dated May 12, 2016,” the judgment added.

The Supreme Court had, earlier this month, granted bail to AKD Securities, CEO Farid Alam and Directors Haji Iqbal and Tariq Adam in EOBI case.

Petitioners’ counsels Farogh A Naseem and Arshad Tayyab Ali appeared before the bench on behalf of the accused persons and claimed that the action of FIA was unlawful as the accused persons have not committed the crime and FIA team has nominated them in the inquiry report without any reason.

The counsels further said that there is no evidence of any involvement of the AKD Securities’ officials in the EOBI-Amtex case registered by the FIA. They contended that it was sheer malice on the part of FIA that these highly respected individuals were detained for about five months without any proof. FIA Director Shahid Hayat included the names of AKD Securities in the second FIR on the basis of EOBI directors’ statement, claiming AKD securities was the lead manager of the Amtex Limited shares in 2010 and a research report in which the exact price of the share at that time was quoted.