SECP chairman gets interim bail in record tampering case

ISLAMABAD: A special judge of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) granted on Monday interim bail to Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) chairman Zafar Hijazi for four days in a case pertaining to tampering with the financial record of the Sharif family’s companies, ARY News reported.

Special judge Central Tariq Mahmood approved bail for Hijazi till July 21 and directed him to furnish two surety bonds of Rs250,000.

The SECP chairman approached the court to seek bail as transitory bail granted to him by the Islamabad High Court was due to expire today.

Hijazi was booked in a case following the Supreme Court’s order in the Panama Papers implementation case for allegedly tampering with financial records of the Sharif’s companies.

A four-member FIA team, constituted by the apex court to look into the JIT’s allegations, had proved the record tampering claims.

It found chairman Hijazi guilty of record tampering and recommended criminal action 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.

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

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

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The director has further accused the chairman of threatening her with dire consequences including transfer to Gilgit-Baltistan on defiance of his orders.

The Panamagate JIT had previously complained to the top court that SECP had allegedly tampered with the record, apparently to favour the Sharif family who owns Chaudhry Sugar Mills.