RAWALPINDI: Customs court in Rawalpindi on Wednesday has turned down model girl Ayyan Ali’s plea seeking cancellation of arrest warrants and directed her to turn up before the court in next the hearing session in July instead.
During the court proceedings, Ali’s counsel Latif Khosa argued that his client was out of the country, hence she could not attend the hearing.
He requested the court to cancel Ayyan Ali’s arrest orders while assuring that she would appear before the court in the next hearing.
Judge Raza Ghazanfar was hearing the case in absence of Justice Sheraz Kiyani as the duty judge. He ruled that he (as duty judge) could not cancel the arrest warrants and only a trial court could take a decision while noting that Ayyan Ali didn’t appear before the court despite continuous summon.
Customs official informed the court that the arrest warrants had also been delivered to Ali’s Karachi residence but no arrests were made.
Subsequently, the judge upheld Ayyan’s arrest warrants and asked her to appear before the court in the next hearing.
Ayyan Ali has been in the media limelight since March last year when authorities, acting on a tip-off, nabbed her at the VIP lounge of Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad on money laundering charges before she could board a flight to Dubai.
It is worth mentioning here that under Pakistani laws, a citizen is barred to carry over $10,000 on a flight. However, the authorities had found $506,800 tucked in her luggage.
She was released on bail in July last year and her lawyer said she had no intention to take money outside Pakistan.
