KARACHI: The Customs Court approved progress report against suspects namely Umair Yousaf and Farhan Yousaf and fixed hearing for framing charge on next date of hearing, who were arrested after dismissal of their pre-arrest bail in first information report (FIR) losses of revenue amounting to Rs1,94,765,264 to the national exchequer by illegal removal of warehouse goods from the warehouse HECOTEX.
On 27 October 2021, during the hearing, investigation officer submitted progress report and informed the court that during the investigation, it was found that prosecution has made and collected evidence against accused who are involved for illegal removal of warehouse goods from the warehouse HECOTEX.
It needs to be noted here that the customs court had dismissed pre-arrest bail applications filed by suspects namely Umair Yousaf and Farhan Yousaf and sent them to the customs department on physical remand.
Court also had observed in its order that “applicants Umair Yousaf is a licensee of the bonded warehouse and Farhan Yousaf is a manager looking-after all the matters of the said warehouse, admittedly velvet suiting fabric, chiffon suiting weighing 171, 421 kg were warehoused against 11 goods declarations, but now in place of said warehoused goods some pieces of useless cloths are present which also with complete difference in weight”.
Court further observed that “on the other hand it is also admitted position that the license of subject warehouse is for iron and steel products, tiles, medical items and chemicals warehouse illegal removal goods are cloths, tentatively speaking both Umair Yousaf and Farhan Yousaf cannot be allowed remedy of pre-arrest bail which will subvert or undermine investigation procedure that essentially included arrest in order to bring the statutory exercise to its logical end for effective and meaningful prosecution of the offence through collection of information upon arrest especially in absence of mala-fide on the part of prosecution and loss of revenue to the govt”.
