Rawalpindi - Judge of Customs, Anti-Smuggling and Taxation Court Yesterday accepted an application seeking temporary exemption for model Ayyan Ali’s appearance in the court.

Her lawyer told the court that Ayyan Ali would have to appear before Sindh High Court on Thursday that was why she could not appear in Rawalpindi court.

Judge Rana Aftab Ahmed adjourned the hearing in the case till August 31 and directed Advocate Khurram Latif Khosa to make sure that his client Ayyan Ali was present in the court on next date of hearing. 

In the meantime, Advocate Khurram Latif Khosa filed two applications in the court. In the first application, the lawyer asked the court to permanently exempt the model from personal appearance in the currency smuggling case. 

In the second application, advocate Khurram Latif Khosa maintained that the Customs investigators had issued notices to Mumtaz Hussain who acted as middle man in sale of Ayyan’s plots in Bharia Town Karachi and Awais who purchased the plots. He said that the Customs officials could not summon the two men who were witnesses in the case and not the accused.

The court had issued notices to the Customs seeking their response on the application till next date of hearing.

In the application, the lawyer had noted that the Customs officials could not treat Mumtaz and Awais as accused. He said that the two men had recorded their statements saying that Ayyan Ali sold five residential plots in Bharia Town and received the money $506,800 that she was carrying while going to Dubai in March 2015.

He argued that the trial court could summon the two individuals as witnesses and record their statements. 

Ayyan Ali was caught red handed by Custom officials while trying to smuggle foreign currency worth $50,6800 abroad in March 2014.