Accepting the intra-court review petition filed by former federal minister Anwar Saifullah Khan against the sentence awarded to him in the case of making illegal recruitments in the Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) in 1996 when he was a federal minister, the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday declared the majority verdict it gave on January 20, 2016 in the case null and void, and acquitted the ex-minister, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Hence, the apex court restored the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) decision dated June 13, 2002 in which the petitioner had been acquitted.
In a written decision, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar stated that applying the NAB Ordinance, 1999 to the allegations levelled against Saifullah in 1996 was constitutionally wrong since the punishment laid down in the ordinance was more stringent than previous laws.
The judge noted that the prosecution had failed to give any proof of the former federal minister causing a loss to the national exchequer and that only administrative negligence was not sufficient to prove criminal intent. “The appointments made by Saifullah are all on record and were made in light of departmental traditions,” read the verdict.
Justice Panhwar made it clear that there was a clear-cut difference between administrative negligence and criminal intent. “When a high court acquits a person, the impression that he or she is innocent is magnified, and any decision in which a person is acquitted cannot be challenged unless the circumstances are extra-ordinary,” the judge stated.
It was stated in the verdict that there was no concrete legal basis of the apex court’s decision, given on January 20, 2016, in which the petitioner’s acquittal had been reversed.
The judge admitted that although the scope of review was limited, still it was incumbent upon the court to make corrections if flaw in the verdict was quite evident.
Reporter: Amanat Gishkori