The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday suspended the life sentence handed to PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi in 2018 in the ephedrine quota case, ordering his release on bail.
A two-member bench, headed by Justice Alia Neelum, accepted Abbasi’s plea to suspend his sentence after hearing detailed arguments from both sides. The court, however, declared that it would continue to hear the case.
The ephedrine case surfaced in March 2011 when the then federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin told the National Assembly that the government would investigate the alleged allocation of 9,000kg of ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies — Berlex Lab International and Danas Pharmaceutical Limited.
According to the rules, a company cannot be allocated more than 500kg of the drug, a limit fixed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) registered a case in June 2012 against nine suspects, including Abbasi.
He was found guilty of selling 500kg ephedrine illegally to narcotics smugglers. He had obtained the controlled chemical for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical, in 2010. However, instead of using it as medicine, he was accused of selling it on to narcotics smugglers.
A fine of Rs1 million was imposed on the PML-N leader along with the life sentence. Seven others accused were acquitted in the case.
