Lahore: An accountability court in Lahore has acquitted Jung-Jio editor-in-chief Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman and all other suspects in a case related to a property transaction that took place more than three decades ago.
The accountability court declared that no charges were proved against the suspects and declared them innocent.
During the last hearing, Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman's lawyer Amjad Parviz had submitted an application in the court under section 265-K to acquit his client.
He urged the court to acquit his client as there was nothing in the evidence produced against him.
At the beginning of today's hearing, the accountability court judge acquitted Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman and all other suspects named in the case.
The court further issued an order to release all the confiscated properties of Rehman.
It is pertinent to mention here that in November 2020, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Rehman, who had been in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for eight months.
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The reference was filed by NAB in 1986 on property deals with owners of private land. Based on this purchase, the anti-corruption body had summoned Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman on March 5, 2020.
The editor-in-chief had produced all the land documents and recorded his statement. However, he was again summoned by the NAB on March 12 and arrested.
According to constitutional and legal experts, his arrest during the scrutiny of land documents was unwarranted as the NAB law does not permit the arrest of any businessman during the investigation.
The land was allotted in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), with the formal approval of the competent authorities and as per the LDA exemption policy at that time.
All payments were made as per Government approved rates like all other allottees. In the whole process, no law was violated, and there was no loss to the national exchequer.
In this context, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was named as the then Chief Minister of Punjab. Former DG LDA Humayun Faiz and Mian Bashir Ahmed were also named in the case by the anti-corruption body.
Two petitions were filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC), one for the bail of Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman and the other for his acquittal. Dismissing the petitions, the court had ordered to approach him once again at the right time.
On July 8, a division bench of the LHC had rejected Rahman's bail plea after his arrest.
Later, the editor-in-chief filed another petition in the Supreme Court on 11 September arguing that the Lahore High Court decision should be set aside and he should be granted bail.
A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed heard Rehman's bail plea.
On November 9, 2020, the Supreme Court granted bail to Rehman.