Unity Foods case: Bail hearing of four arrested officials postponed until September 12
Published 1 hour ago | By Nouman Shakeel
Four current and former officials arrested in the Unity Foods case could not be granted bail immediately. The local court has adjourned the hearing of the bail applications filed by the arrested persons till September 12.
Jalees Edhi, Aamir Shahzad, Safdar Sajjad and Abdul Majeed Ghaziani have been arrested in the case. The FIA had registered the case against the former management of Unity Foods on the basis of a reference from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
According to the FIA, the case is being investigated for an alleged discrepancy of Rs44.7 billion between the company’s published financial statements and internal SAP records. The investigation also includes the alleged unrelated use of Rs2.87 billion received through a rights issue.
According to the investigating agency, there has also been an alleged shortage of Rs5.2 billion in the company’s inventory. The officials are also being investigated for not having proof of delivery of goods in return for receipts of about Rs5 billion.
Apart from this, the alleged payments of about Rs 5.31 billion linked to the mother of former Chief Executive Farrukh Amin are also being investigated. Farrukh Amin and other individuals have been named in the case filed by the FIA.
Unity Foods is a listed company on the Pakistan Stock Exchange and 34% of its shares are held by the public, while Singapore-based Wilma International holds about 42%. Wilma has recognized a provision of $ 150 million in relation to its investment.
A separate investigation is also underway into the alleged insider trading of the company’s shares in the case. On the other hand, the proceedings related to the proposed takeover of Al Shaheer Corporation are also under hearing in the court.
The investigation into the financial transactions and alleged irregularities that have come to light in the Unity Foods case is still ongoing, while the court will take further action on September 12 on the bail applications of the arrested officials.
