Lahore High Court Reserves Verdict On Plea For Bail Cancellation Of Former Ogra Chairperson, Others

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday reserved its verdict on a petition for bail cancellation of former chairperson of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Uzma Adil Khan and five others in a 2020 petrol scam that had hit the country in the first half of 2020

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Jul, 2022 ) :The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday reserved its verdict on a petition for bail cancellation of former chairperson of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Uzma Adil Khan and five others in a 2020 petrol scam that had hit the country in the first half of 2020.

Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafiq heard the petition filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The FIA's prosecutor argued before the court that a special court granted bail to the former Ogra chairperson and five others despite the availability of strong evidence against them. He contended that the trial court decision was not sustainable in the eyes of the law. He pleaded with the court to set aside the bail granted to the accused.

However, the defence counsel opposed the plea, saying that the trial court granted bail to his clients on merit.

The court, after hearing detailed arguments of the parties, reserved its verdict.

The FIA Lahore had registered cases after the findings of the probe which was held to find out the causes of an artificial shortage of the petroleum products during the first half of 2020.

The cases were registered against some oil marketing companies, Ogra and Ministry of Energy officials.

The nominated accused in the FIRs include Uzma Adil Khan, Ogra former chairperson, Noor-ul-Haq, Ogra former member finance, Abdullah Malik, Ogra former member oil, Dr Shafi-ur-Rehman Afridi, Imran Ali Abro, (RO of MoEPD, Amir Naseem, Ogra former member gas, Askar Oil Services directors Sohail Nasim, Shakeel Nasim and M Shahzad Anjum, and Nadeem Butt.

FIA accused them for awarding petroleum marketing licences illegally, allowing illegal petrol import quota. Moreover, the oil marketing companies after getting the marketing licences established several illegal petrol pumps, which caused the loss of billions of rupees to the national kitty.