Fayaz convicted, fined for impersonating

Lahore High Court (LHC) here on Wednesday convicted Finance Director Punjab Beverage Company (Pvt) Limited Fayaz Hussain on contempt of court charges and awarded him 'till rising of the court' sentence along with a fine of Rs 1,00,000 after he admitted commission of impersonation. Earlier, the court had dismissed an unconditional apology made by him and directed the interior ministry to place his name on the exit control list (ECL).
The court, however, ruled that his name should be removed from ECL after he served the sentence and paid the fine. The court had issued a contempt of court notice to him for impersonating as Chief Tax of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) during the hearing of a petition moved by some beverage companies against imposition of capacity tax. Fayaz prayed to the court to recall the order passed against him on July 30 and conceded his guilt in-written reply in response to a show cause notice.
The court observed that the action of contemnor in impersonating as Chief Tax FBR is a brazen display of deception in the face of the court and amounted to diverting the course of justice. The court observed that the action of the contemnor, therefore, constituted criminal contempt in terms of section 6 (1) (c) of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003. The court dismissed the apology tendered by the applicant and convicted him under section 5(1) the Ordinance.
The court further ordered that in case of non-payment of fine the contemnor would undergo imprisonment for a period of three days. The applicant appeared in the court at the last hearing and impersonated Dr Ashfaq Ahmed Tonio, the Chief Tax FBR, in the presence of counsel for FBR Ilyas Khan.
In his written apology, Hussain submitted that he was called to the rostrum by Khan during the hearing on July 19 and the attendance slip submitted by him holding himself out as the Chief Tax was under the mistaken belief that he was being asked by the court as to who issued the impugned rules. However, Ilyas Khan told the court that the applicant held himself out to be Chief Tax Dr Tonio and it was for this reason he was called to the rostrum.