Islamabad High court (IHC) on Monday acquitted Hamid Saeed Kazmi, former federal minister for religious affairs, Rao Shakeel, former DG Hajj, and Aftabul Islam Raja, former joint secretary, Ministry of Religious Affairs, in the Hajj corruption case. A single-member bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani took up the case while allowing the appeals of all the three absolved from corruption charges.
On June 3, 2016, a court of special judge central (SJC) had awarded Kazmi with a six-year imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 147.396 million, whereby the other two accused were also awarded almost similar punishment. The IHC bench through a short order allowed appeals of the three accused persons against SJC order since the order lacked evidence. However, the detailed judgement is yet to come.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan had directed the IHC to conclude the matter after a day-to-day hearing. Petitioner Kazmi stated in his appeal that none of the prosecution witnesses had insinuated him with any malfeasance and his conviction is based on absolutely conjectural hypothesis.
According to the prosecution, the appellant (Kazmi) being minister had a supervisory role in making arrangements for the Hajj pilgrims but he had nothing to do with the hiring of buildings and making payments of rents to the building owners, but the trial court proceeded to hold appellant guilty. The petitioner said that the conclusion of trial court was based on suppositions and a consequence of misreading or non-reading of the facts. The rent payment of the under-construction building was contingent upon completion and rent amount was retrieved through cheques and no embezzlement of funds had taken place.
The petitioner had further contended that this is a case of no evidence and sentence by the trial court is violation of his fundamental rights. Not a single prosecution witness uttered any word against the petitioner regarding kickbacks or commission and there is no such evidence on record to prove this offence, the petitioner had said. "The role of hiring buildings for pilgrims was to be performed by a seven-member committee and the petitioner had no role in it. The petitioner's name was not in the FIR but he was implicated due to political rivalry. That learned trial court while convicting the petitioner seemed to be influenced by the media trial," the petitioner stated.
Kazmi's counsel Sardar Latif Khosa while arguing in this matter on different hearings had argued that his client has been punished for his supervisory role. His client was not involved in hiring buildings and there were no allegations of kickbacks against him. In fact, the Saudi government had returned Saudi Riyals 6.65 million to the pilgrims due to the efforts of his client.
From prosecution side, the FIA on different hearings had argued that Hamid Saeed Kazmi had been on a visit to Saudi Arabia where he examined the arrangements. The Court of Special Judge Central found him guilty on the account of approving under-construction buildings having no washrooms and that too in connivance with his front man, Ahmed Faiz. The FIA prosecutor had also submitted Kazmi's photos with Ahmed Faiz in Saudi Arabia.
The prosecution had told the court that Kazmi caused a loss of Rs 1.0888 billion to the national kitty. The Saudi government after becoming aware of the situation itself returned Rs 5,000 to each Pakistani pilgrim and Kazmi had no role in it, the FIA prosecutor had also said. The other two accused Aftabul Islam and Rao Shakeel had also been awarded similar sentence by the SJC that IHC bench set aside on Monday.