Pakistani Court revives sentences of Interior Minister
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad,May 18, IRNA -- A court in Pakistan Monday restored sentences of Interior Minister Rehman Malik in cases of corruption and misuse of power, lawyers said.
Malik had been sentenced to jail terms by Accountability Courts in several cases but he had filed appeals against the punishments.
Legal experts say that bail to the Interior Minister has also been suspended after the verdict, which means he could be arrested unless he filed a review petition or secure order or move the Supreme Court.
Mr Malik has been accused of misuse of power when he had been serving on a top position in the Federal Investigation Agency in 1990s.
The Interior Minister had appealed to the court to cancel punishment as they wee politically motivated and announced in his absence.
Accountability Court in Rawalpindi had awarded three-year jail term in two cases on the charges of intentionally fleeing the country.
The Lahore High Court (LHC), in an interim order in December 2009, had suspended implementation of the punishment and had granted bail to the Interior Minister on 100,000 surety bonds.
The LHC Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif and Justice Manzoor Malik had reserved verdict on his petitions several days ago and announced the verdict on Monday.
The two-member bench of the LHC in a short verdict rejected appeals of the Interior Minister and revived his jail term.
The Interior Minister says that cases against his were politically motivated and that he had been pressurized to become approver against the slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by the former government of Nawaz Sharif.
In two corruption references in 1995 and 1996, Malik as Deputy Director FIA, had been accused of misusing powers by issuing quota of Charcoal from a government-owned oil refinery to his close relative.
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