ISLAMABAD: A local court has indicted Zafar Hijazi, the suspended chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), in the case relating to tampering of the record of Chaudhry Sugar Mills which is owned by the family of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
A special court of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has indicted Hijazi under Sections 420 (cheating), 466 (forgery) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 5(2)(47) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Hijazi, however, pleaded not guilty.
Special court’s judge Irum Niazi read out the charges against Hijazi in his presence.
As per the charge sheet, Hijazi has been accused of pressurising his subordinate staff to close the pending inquiry against the said sugar mills in back date. In response, the accused said that he did not tamper with any record nor did he commit any wrongdoing.
The case was filed after the six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) – which was formed by the Supreme Court to investigate the Panama Papers case – submitted its report to the apex court accusing Hijazi of forgery.
The JIT members had claimed that the examination of witnesses suggested that the deed was done at the behest of the suspended SECP chairman. Hijazi denied the allegations, claiming instead that some other SECP employees had changed the records without any pressure or directives from him.
The FIA in July booked Hijazi and registered a case against him under the above mentioned sections of the PPC and PCA.
