SC grants bail to Ali Musa Gilani

KHUDAYAR MOHLA AND FAZAL SHER

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday granted pre-arrest bail to Ali Musa Gilani, son of former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in the  ephedrine quota case till September 25.

Accepting the pre-arrest bail application of Pakistan People’s Party MNA Musa Gilani, a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk, directed him to submit a surety bond of Rs500,000 and issued a notice to the Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF).

Before the commencement of the court proceedings, Ali Musa was briefly arrested by the ANF at the main entrance of the Supreme Court and then forcibly taken to ANF’s Rawalpindi office where he was detained for more than half an hour. An eyewitness told the Business Recorder that ANF officials grabbed Ali Musa’s coat and dragged him out from his car upon his arrival at the Supreme Court gate.

Following his arrest, Ali Musa Gilani’s lawyer Dr Khalid Ranjha contended that as his client had already been served a notice, his arrest outside the SC gate tantamount to contempt of court.

The bench expressed concern over the arrest and inquired what duty ANF officials were performing on the premises of the Supreme Court and ordered the ANF to produce Ali Musa within half an hour.

In view of the court’s direction, ANF brought Ali Musa back to the apex court at 11am and the bench granted him bail. The apex court later adjourned the case till 25 September.

Speaking to media persons on the premises of the Supreme Court, Ali Musa said that he had faith in the Supreme Court, but not in ANF. He said: “I respect the courts and used to think everyone else does too. But today the camera’s eye witnessed that uniformed men committed contempt of court while in the vicinity of the Supreme Court.”

Musa Gilani showed a bruise on his leg which he claimed was inflicted by ANF officials who, he alleged, manhandled and harassed him. The former Prime Minister’s son added that he did not trust ANF and had requested for a change in the investigating officer several times. “The investigative officer has submitted an affidavit against me in the case, so how can one expect him to disprove his own affidavit?”

When asked why he waited till after Makhdoom Shahabuddin submitted his plea, Ali Musa said he wanted to be prepared before the court and needed to consult his lawyer regarding his petition.

The Supreme Court granted pre-arrest bail on 10 September in the same case to Federal Minister for Textile Industry Makhdoom Shahabuddin till September 25. Ali Musa is accused of pressing officials of the Health Ministry in 2010 to allocate a quota of a controlled chemical, ephedrine, to two different pharmaceutical companies. Filing for a pre-arrest bail under Article 185(3) of the Constitution, Ali Musa’s counsel Khalid Ranjha submitted that his client was not named in the FIR or in any of the challans submitted by the prosecution before the court.

Earlier, Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Friday arrested MNA Ali Musa Gilani outside the Supreme Court (SC) building just as he was on his way to the SC for seeking pre-arrest bail in the ephedrine case.

The ANF personnel practically dragged Musa out of his vehicle and took him to the ANF office.

Later, ANF officials produced Musa Gilani before the apex court following its directives, which granted him interim bail till September 25.

Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi division bench comprising Justice Ibad-ur-Rehman Lodhi and Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmed had dismissed the bail plea of both the accused and declared them absconder.  Former Director General (DG) health Dr Rasheed Juma in his testimony given to the ANF had confessed that he granted the on pressure from Ali Musa Gilani, Makhdoom Shahabuddin and Khushnood Lashari.