After detailed hearing the Supreme Court here on Friday declined the plea for bail by Khalifa Abdul Qayyum the Central Board of Revenue in a case instituted by National Accountability Bureau against him.
Abdul Qayyum was Principal Appraiser in the Collectorate of Excise and Sales Tax Lahore and was a member of the inspection team which investigated allegations that Irfan Seamless Pipe Industries Limited of Lahore had, through incorrect claims, caused loss of Rs 14,380 million to exchequer.
The National Accountability Bureau, according to the claims before the First Bench of the Supreme Court, had instituted an inquiry on a complaint from a rival manufacturer at Dadu alleging that Irfan Pipes was not manufacturing seamless pipes and hence was not eligible to tax exemption on import raw material.
After several attempts to acquire state of affairs had failed, Abdul Qayum was asked by his Assistant Collector to make an on-the-spot check about production of the factory to which he confirmed the existence of manufacturing unit but said it was not in operation. The management, however, according to Khalifa, claimed to be in the process of importing raw material.
Several months after this report, another survey was conducted by the Central Excise officials to watch the production and also to determine the production wastage. Three officials signed the report but not by Abdul Qayyum.
Appearing for Khalifa, counsel M Bilal described the inspection report as "factually incorrect and prepared to benefit the Company".
Bilal said that later when NAB opened its investigations, the officials connected with the inquiry report were taken into custody. They were later remanded to judicial custody when the investigations were completed and cases against the Company owners were filed.
Qayyum was among them and remained in the custody despite "no overact was assigned to him" in the investigation. On the contrary, Bilal said, he had acted to protect the interests of national exchequer. He also claimed that there were not allegations of "corruption or incorrect practice against him".
His arguments were controverted by Jafar Hashmei, Deputy Prosecutor General of National Accountability Bureau after which the Bench announced the dismissal of the request by a verbal order which will be followed by a detailed judgement.
Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, however, nodded his approval of the request of Khalifa's counsel to direct the trial court for early conclusion of the case.
Besides the Chief Justice, the Bench comprised Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi.