Islamabad:
Justice Babar Sattar of the Islamabad High Court approved the bail of Shahid Hussain Khawaja, the branch manager of a private bank in Karachi, on a bond of one hundred rupees in the sales tax fraud case of Rs.
The court termed the tax department’s criminal action as an excess of authority and ordered a copy of the decision to be sent to the Chairman Federal Board of Revenue, while calling the magistrate’s decision to remand the accused and deny bail to the subordinate court shameful.
The Islamabad High Court has also indicated the action against the FBR and tax officials for violating the law in the future. It has been reported that the bank manager was arrested for helping to open the account of the power company.
The tax department did not assess the tax due to the tax payer as per law and arrested the petitioner in violation of the judgment of Lahore High Court and exceeded the authority by initiating criminal proceedings despite being aware of the judgment of Lahore High Court.
The State has not produced any material to implicate the petitioner in the crime of tax fraud. The tax department abused the powers and violated the petitioner’s constitutional rights to dignity, dignity and equality. It is a shame that the remanding magistrate and the court denying bail did not take into account the provisions of the Sales Tax Act. The court expects the trial court to consider the legality of the action.
