Qaiser Rashid Khan, J.--Through the petition in hand, the petitioner primarily seeks his pre-arrest bail albeit with the following prayers:-- (a)The proposed arrest of the petitioner is illegal, unlawful unconstitutional, hence merits to be declared as act without lawful authority and in consequence thereof petitioner may kindly be allowed pre-arrest bail by invoking jurisdiction u/S. 498 of Cr.P.C., and respondents be restrained from further harassing, humiliating and torturing the petitioner by issuing fresh arrest warrants pertaining to the allegations already enumerated in their notices etc. (b)Examine the authority and legality of the Reference issued by the respondents and the arrest warrant issued by the NAB Chairman under the NAB Ordinance.
(c)The acts of the respondents be declared illegal, unlawful, void ab initio and without there being any jurisdiction and justification whatsoever.
2. In the petition, the petitioner has made a long narration of facts starting off with the principal accused Muhammad Tariq Awan, Ex-Secretary, Workers Welfare Board, Peshawar who in that capacity to have indulged in various acts of corruption and corrupt practices and as to how in the process, he appointed one Abdul Waheed Qureshi as a Project Director for the purpose of procurement of items worth millions of rupees for certain schemes who in turn awarded an illegal contract of Rs, 143.48 millions to his son co-accused Arsalan Qureshi and then with the ill-gotten money, and commissions, a Plaza, namely, Hamala Complex, situated in Gul Bahar area, Peshawar, was purchased by accused Arsalan Qureshi for a sum of Rs,73 millions in his name as well as in the name of his brother co-accused Irfan Qureshi and then they later transferred its ownership to the present petitioner through a registered document and in the process called for the notice of the NAB authorities and that is how the petitioner, apprehending his arrest, has filed the instant pre- arrest bail petition.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently contended that the petitioner has got nothing to do with any act of corruption or corrupt practices of the other co-accused as he is a bonafide purchaser of Hamala Shopping Plaza, Gulbahar area, Peshawar, having purchased the same in 2014 through a registered sale deed from his son-in-law Irfan Qureshi; that Section 23 of the NAO, 1999, is not attracted to the case of the petitioner and that Irfan Qureshi, in turn, has also challenged the sale deed in favour of the petitioner through a civil suit and that the other co- accused have already been granted bail and moreover that the NAB authorities, with malafide intentions, are hell-bent to arrest the petitioner so as to pressurize, humiliate and harass him.
4. The teamed Special Prosecutor for the NAB on his turn resisted the grant of pre-arrest bail to the petitioner and contended that he is indeed involved in the commission of the offence and has colluded and connived with the other co-accused including his son-in-law from whom he has allegedly purchased Hamala Shopping Plaza and that the petitioner, after getting ad interim bail on 20.3.2017 has not joined the investigation initiated by the NAB authorities and has also been proceeded under Section 512, Cr.P.C. by the learned Accountability Court in Reference No, 4/2015 pending before the said Court. He further contended that in the case of the other co-accused, they were granted post arrest bail.
5. Arguments heard and the available record perused.
6. As narrated above, the petitioner undeniably purchased Hamala Shopping Plaza situated in Gulbahar area, Peshawar through a registered Sale-Deeds No,. 1197, 1198 & 1199 dated 14.5.2014 from his son-in-law accused Irfan Qureshi and his brother Arsalan Qureshi allegedly for a sum of Rs,18 millions as against its purchase by the Qureshi brothers for a sum of Rs,73 millions in the year 2013.
Moreover, the said transaction took place on 14.5.201 i,e, a month after an enquiry was initiated in the matter on 17.4.2014 and thus the argument of the learned counsel for the petitioner regarding non-applicability of Section 23 of the NAO, 1999 to the instant matter is not tenable. Moreover, as per available record, despite the transfer of the plaza in the name of the petitioner in the year 2014, still it is co-accused Irfan Qureshi who has signed rent deeds with the tenants in the year 2015. Thus it prima facie establishes that the entire deal/transaction in respect of Hamala Shopping Plaza has been conducted in a hush-hush manner so as to hoodwink the prosecution. The record also shows that after getting ad-interim bail from this Court on 20.3.2017, the petitioner Ins not joined the investigation with the NAB authorities so as to unearth the financial scam of the principal accused Muhammad Traiq Awan. Ex-Secretary, Workers Welfare Board and his cohort Abdul Waheed Qureshi and where the financial impact of the loot and plunder is colossal, running into billions of rupees. Moreover, his abstention from joining the proceedings and non-cooperation with the NAB authorities, do not reconcile with his plea and accusation of harassment at the hands of the NAB authorities.
7. For the reasons stated above, we hold the accused-petitioner disentitled to the grant of pre- arrest bail in the NAB proceedings. The ad-interim bail granted to accused-petitioner on 20.3.2017 is thus not confirmed. The petition stands dismissed accordingly.
8. Before parting with this order, it is directed that the observations recorded in this order are tentative in nature and shall not prejudice the proceedings before the learned trial Court where the case be decided on its own merits after recording evidence