PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday granted ball to a former Peshawar Electric Supply Company chief executive arrested by the National Accountability Bureau on the charge of possessing illegal assets.

A bench consisting of Justice Irshad Qaisar and Justice Syed Afsar Shah accepted a writ petition filed by the former chief executive, Pervez Akhtar Shah, directing him to submit two sureties of Rs1 million each.

The petitioner was booked in the case in Jul 2015 by the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who alleged that during service from 1978 to 2015 in Wapda, the petitioner had illegally acquired four precious plots in Peshawar in his name as well as in the names of benamidar.

It alleged that the petitioner had accumulated 10 valuable plots worth millions of rupees in various locations and societies of Islamabad and adjacent areas.

Sardar Ali Raza and Ijaz Sabi, counsel for the petitioner, said registration of the case in question by the NAB was based on mala fide as their client had already been acquitted by thecourt in almost identical reference in 2014.

They said during the pendency of the previous case, their client had in May 2011 traced electricity thef t by the then NAB investigation officer, Gul Mohammad.

The counsel insisted the inquiry proved that the said IO was involved in power theft.

They said the previous reference also pertained to possession of illegal assets.

The lawyers said after the acquittal of the petitioner in that case, the NAB again booked him in an almost identical case.

They said the warrant for the arrest of their client was issued by the NAB director general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who served in grade 19, whereas the petitioner was an officer of grade 20.

The lawyers said under the rules, arrest warrants for the petitioner could only be issued by the NAB chairman and not by the director general.

They said the bungalow which the NAB claimed was acquired through illegal means was on the name of the petitioner`s wife and was owned by her prior to her marriage with the petitioner.

The counsel said the plots, which the NAB claimed were located in Islamabad, were infact in Chakri outside Rawalpindi.

PRE-ARREST BAIL EXTENDED: A bench comprising Justice Nisar Hussain and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth extended further extended its earlier interim pre-arrest bail to two highups of a mining company including a Chinese national and stopped the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting them in a case of alleged smuggling of antimony from mines in Chitral to China.

The bench directed the petitioners to submit a rejoinder to the comments filed by the NAB in the writ petitions filed by chief executive of the company Tuny Pak Mineral Private Limited, Mohammad Saleem Mughal, and a Chinese partner in the company, Fu Qiufeng.

The bench fixed June 7 for next hearing of the petitions.

Both the petitioners have challenged the issuance of call-up notices to them by the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, asking them to turn up at the bureau`s office for the purpose of conducting inquiry in the said case.

The petitioners apprehended that they might be arrested by the NAB.

The petitioners have requested the court to quash the proceedings initiated against them by the bureau.