Islamabad: A special court on Friday, sentenced former federal minister for religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi to 16 years in prison.
While Kazmi was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a court in Islamabad, Director General (DG) Hajj Rao Shakeel was sentenced to 40 years. Former additional secretary religious affairs Aftab Ahmed was also sentenced to 16 years.
Following the court hearing, the accused were taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The three have been given the right to appeal.
Kazmi was accused of corruption during the course of renting residential buildings for Pakistani pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and inflicting a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. A case was registered against him and he was arrested on March 15, 2011. A Rawalpindi court granted him bail on August 27, 2012.
In previous hearings, Pakistan Muslim League-N MNA Imran Ahmed Shah also alleged that Abdul Qadir Gilani, the son of former Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, “smuggled” a bulletproof Land Cruiser from Dubai in 2009 as part of the financial irregularities involved in the scam.
Qadir Gilani however, refused to cooperate with the agency and investigators.
