Lawyer Targeted For

Supporting Judiciary High

Court Grants Bail,
Reprimands NAB
ISLAMABAD: One of the top lawyers
of the country Nadeem Ahmad said
on Monday that he had been
receiving threats from the
government and various unknown
people for the past many days.
He said that on Friday after midnight,
dozens of armed NAB officials surrounded
his house and kidnapped him without
showing him any warrants while
harassing his whole family. Later, it was
revealed that the NAB chairman had
himself filed a reference before the NAB
court in which Nadeem Ahmeds name
was deliberatelyand wrongly included. He
said before Fasih Bokhari filed the

reference against him, no official of NAB

had even contacted him or sent him any
notice or even bothered to take his
statement regarding the allegations.
Even after his arrest, the NAB did not
conduct any investigation. The NAB
people, directly reporting to Islamabad on
Friday night, did not bother to take any
written statement from him. And what is
surprising is that on that very night, the
NAB officials told Nadeem that they would
not be seeking his further
custody/remand.
The question, he says, is that if the
reference was genuine, and if his arrest
was so needed to conduct an
investigation, why no investigation was
done and why NAB told the NAB court
next morning that it no longer needed his
custody/remand.
Most surprisingly, Nadeem Ahmed said,
the moment he was taken to the NAB

centre after midnight, a representative of

a particular channel was present inside
the NAB office. He was locked up in a
room, where the channel representative
kept on making video and started
showing it on its channel with an angle to
defame and humiliate him.
This, Nadeem Ahmed learnt, was the sole
object of his arrest i.e. to humiliate and
intimidate him to discourage him and
people like him who stand with the
independent judiciary and who keep on
exposing all conspiracies aimed at
damaging the judiciary.
Earlier today, a division bench of the
Sindh High Court, comprising acting Chief
Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Aqeel
Ahmed Abbasi, granted bail to Nadeem
Ahmed Advocate in the NAB reference,
filed by NAB authorities against him.
Nadeem Ahmed, advocate, was
represented in the High Court by Sindh

High Court Bar Associations President

Anwar Mansoor; Siddiq Mirza, Advocate
Supreme Court; Dr Amjad Bokhari,
Advocate Supreme Court; Shahab Sarki,
General Secretary High Court Bar
Association, and other prominent lawyers.
Advocate Anwar Mansoor argued before
the court that all the offences alleged to
have been committed by the
management of the Callmate Telips were
committed prior to the induction of
Nadeem Ahmed, advocate, as a nonExecutive Director on the Board of
Callmate Telips. Anwar Mansoor further
argued that Nadeem Ahmed did not draw
any salary or other benefits from the
company in question.
Siddiq Mirza added that even the NABs
own reference did not contain any
allegation, whatsoever, against Nadeem
and there was no evidence or document

provided by the NAB authorities that

linked Nadeem to the alleged offences.
Siddiq Mirza also pointed out to the court
that Nadeem Ahmed was part of the
Board that actually unearthed the
scams/frauds committed by the previous
management in the year 2007 and
passed board resolution to take legal
action against the culprits.
After hearing the arguments, the court
reprimanded the NAB prosecutor, and the
investigation officer for failing to satisfy
the court with regard to involvement of
Nadeem Ahmed Advocate in the alleged
offences after having been given
sufficient opportunity by the Honorable
Court.
After the petitioners arguments, despite
repeated insistence of the court, the NAB
prosecutor failed to show from the
reference any specific allegation against
Nadeem Ahmed, any of his wrongdoings

or that any wrongdoing was done when

he was director or any document to show
his involvement.
The court commented that arresting a
respected lawyer without any evidence
might put the investigation officer and
relevant officials of the NAB in trouble.
The court further commented that life and
reputation of citizens is not childs play.
Though the court has granted the bail
application, it has not yet passed a
detailed order which is expected today.
APP adds: The National Accountability
Bureau (NAB) had arrested Nadeem
Ahmad Advocate on the non-bailable
warrants of arrest issued by the
Accountability Court, Karachi.
The accused side is misleading the media
that he was arrested without any arrest
warrants, said a press release issued by
NAB here Monday. NAB arrested the
accused from his home when he was

trying to escape the scene. NAB is an

independent organisation and takes
action against every corrupt person
without any influence and under the
provisions of its law.
In this case, the accused, Nadeem Ahmed
Advocate, ex-director Callmate Telips
Telecom Limited (CTTL), is involved in
corruption of Rs5 billion by cheating
public at large. Nadeem Ahmed was one
of the seven accused persons in this case.
On April 30, a reference was signed by
the NAB chairman against seven accused
persons, including Nadeem Ahmad. Arrest
warrants were initially issued against six
accused persons, including Nadeem
Ahmed, on May 29 by the Accountability
Court No IV. Arrest warrants against five
accused persons were repeated on June
14 as one of the accused, Hasan Jamil
Ansari, was arrested by NAB. So, pinning

this arrest with judiciary is wrong, NAB

press release said.
The accused advocates role in the
restoration of judiciary may be worth
mention but good work done on any issue
does not give anyone a certificate to play
havoc with other matters, it added.