Court finally releases Hamid Saeed Kazmi on bail

A trial court while accepting the bail plea of Hamid Saeed Kazmi, the former minister for religious affairs, ordered his immediate release from the prison.

Special Judge Muhammad Ahmad Farooqui on Monday granted the bail to the former federal minister, who was under arrest for the last one year on the charge of corruption in the arrangements of Hajj-2010.

The court directed Kazmi to submit two surety bonds of Rs100, 000 each. It is vital to mention here that the former minister had been imprisoned in Adiala Jail for one year and five months and is likely to be released today, if the bonds are deposited.

Hamid Saeed Kazmi was arrested at outside the court room in March 2011 immediately after his interim bail was vacated. Later, his bail petition was filed in the same trial court.

Former additional secretary to ministry of religious affairs Raja Aftabul Islam and former director-general Hajj Rao Shakeel, the two other accused in the scam, were also present during the hearing.

Shakeel filed an application, requesting the court to unfreeze his salary account but the court reserved its judgment on his application which will be announced during the next hearing on August 30, 2012.

Supreme Court taking suo muto notice had ordered FIA to register a case of corruption in the arrangements of Hajj-2010.

Later, FIA nominating in this case Hamid Saeed Kazmi, high officials of the ministry of Hajj Raja Aftabul Islam, Rao Shakil and others had arrested them and they were being tried in the Rawalpindi Special Judge Central court.

The three were accused of indulging in widespread corruption during the course of renting residential buildings for Pakistani pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and inflicting a loss of a billion rupees to the national exchequer.

Most of the buildings rented by the Hajj administrators were five kilometers away from the Haram Sharif, while according to law the accommodation for Hajjis should not be more than two kilometers away.

All three of them, if summoned, will have to appear in the hearings of the case in future.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Aug 27 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.