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KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party leader and former provincial information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon was on Tuesday denied permission to travel abroad for “medical treatment” by the Sindh High Court.
Mr Memon, whose name was placed on the Exit Control List by the federal government for his alleged involvement in multibillion-rupee corruption cases, had approached the SHC through a miscellaneous criminal application seeking one-time permission to leave the country for getting medical treatment abroad.
A two-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Sheikh, dismissed his application after the counsel for the National Accountability Bureau and Mr Memon concluded their final arguments.
The former minister’s counsel said his client was ill and requested the court to grant him one-time permission to get medical treatment abroad.
The federal government’s law officer and NAB special prosecutor vehemently opposed Mr Memon’s plea and asked the court to dismiss it.
The NAB prosecutor said the name of Sharjeel Memon had been placed in the ECL because of his involvement in corruption cases and he would not return if he was allowed to travel abroad.
The bench dismissed Mr Memon’s application, ruling that he could not be allowed to leave the country.
The same bench put off the hearing of another application of Mr Memon seeking removal of his name from the ECL.
The PPP leader faces two corruption references, one relating to alleged award of advertisements at exorbitant rates and the other pertaining to illegal adjustment and consolidation of hundreds of acres of land in favour of Bahria Town.
One of the references sent by the NAB chairman said that during investigation into corruption and corrupt practices in the advertisement awareness campaigns on TV channels and FM radios between July 2013 and June 2015, it was found that the accused acted with the connivance of each other, resulting in losses to the national exchequer.
The former minister, along with then provincial information secretary Zulfiqar Ali Shalwani, deputy directors Anita Baloch, Mansoor Ahmed Rajput and Mohammed Yousuf Kaboro and others, was booked for allegedly committing corruption to the tune of Rs5.76 billion in awarding government advertisements in the electronic media from 2013 to 2015. It was alleged in the reference that the amount had been paid to seven advertisement companies in violation of the Sindh Public Procurement Rules 2010.
Another application of Mr Memon seeking confirmation of his protective bail in the Rs5.76bn corruption reference is also pending disposal as a two-judge bench headed by Justice Junaid Ghaffar had on June 2 reserved its order to a date to be later pronounced by the court office.
Mr Memon was granted protective bail in the sum of Rs2 million by the SHC that had also ordered him to deposit his original passport with its nazir (court official).
Nadra official’s bail plea dismissed
A division bench of the high court dismissed a bail application of an officer of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Hassam Hamid, in a case pertaining to issuance of 77 fake computerised national identity cards to illegal immigrants.
The applicant’s counsel contended that his client was entitled to bail as the prosecution had not brought on record any solid evidence against him despite the lapse of one year.
The law officer of the Federal Investigation Agency opposed the bail application and said the final chargesheet of the case had been submitted to the trial court and there was ample evidence against the accused.
He said the applicant was involved in issuing fake CNICs to aliens, including Iranians and Afghans.
Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2017
