KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has extended till October 26 its interim order, suspending the operation of non-bailable warrants for the arrest of prime suspect in a case pertaining to fraudulent import of pharmaceutical raw material that caused millions of rupees loss to the national exchequer.
A single bench of the SHC comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto adjourned the bail petition of Muhammad Ali Chandna for want of time. Chandna moved the court, seeking suspension of non-bailable arrest warrants issued by the Special Customs Taxation and Anti-Smuggling Court.
In the bail petition, the suspect’s counsel submitted that the trial court issued non-bailable warrants for Chandna, who is out on pre-arrest bail, due to his absence during hearing of the case despite the fact that he filed an application for condonation of his absence. The court was requested to suspend the operation of the arrest warrants.
According to the details of the case, Chandna of Pure Enterprises and his other accomplices have been booked for importing pharmaceutical raw material from China and India by mis-declaring the description of the goods.
Pakistan Customs’ AIB Branch of MCC-Appraisement (West), unearthed the scam last year in which it found that Chandna, Ziauddin of Chemi Zone and Rajab Ali of M/s Rajab had fraudulently imported pharmaceutical raw material by declaring them as Preservative ACJC-240-430 under SDO-222 under HS Code 3824.9099.
