The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reserved its decision on the bail plea of anchorperson and former Pakistan Television (PTV) chairman Dr Shahid Masood in relation to a corruption case pertaining to the state television.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani while hearing the PTV corruption case asked the stated TV’s counsel regarding the position of the co-accused in the case. The court was informed that Dr Shahid Masood is under arrest while the other suspects are on bail and returning the money.
“Suspect Kashif Rabbani has returned Rs 10.3 million while suspect Roshan Mustafa Gilani has returned Rs 0.8 million,” PTV’s counsel said.
Justice Kayani then asked whether the co-accused were given bail on merit or after returning money to which the counsel said that they were not granted bail on merit.
Further, the officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told the court that investigation in the PTV corruption case has been completed but a challan has not yet been issued. “No evidence has been found regarding Dr Shahid Masood taking money and there is no witness statement in this regard either,” FIA officials added.
Following this, the court reserved its decision on the anchorperson’s bail plea.
FIA had arrested Masood from the premises of the IHC on November 23 after his bail plea had been rejected in the PTV corruption case. The anchorperson was later sent to Adiala jail on judicial remand.
Masood, who was appointed PTV chairman in the tenure of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is accused of signing an agreement with a fake company to negotiate with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for grant of rights for coverage of cricket matches played in Pakistan.
Masood was involved in embezzlement of around Rs37 million from PTV as he negotiated with PCB for media rights and granted them to a fake catering company, according to FIA.
Published in Daily Times, December 21st 2018.
