SUKKUR: Sukkur accountability court on Monday granted to the National Accountability Bureau physical remand of MNA Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah for another 14 days in a case of possession of assets beyond known means.

Judge Ameer Ali Mahesar allowed two-week remand though NAB prosecutor Zubair Malik had sought 15 days on grounds that NAB had unearthed two more plots in the possession of the accused in the course of ongoing investigation, hence it needed additional time to interrogate him.

He informed the court that the bureau had laid hands on record about a two-acre plot in SITE Sukkur and one plot in SITE Karachi in the possession of the accused.

He said that the bureau had learnt that his “frontman” Akram Pathan transferred Rs2.5 million into two accounts held by him, and obtained record of Rs1.5m of the accused deposited in a bank account during general election 2013, he said. He said the bureau had documentary proof that Pehlaj Rai was a business partner of the accused.

Neither he nor his family members were cooperating in the investigation while his son MPA Farrukh Shah was not even bothering to attend the court hearings, he complained.

The prosecutor said that whenever the accused was asked about how he had come to possess such vast assets his reply was that they were his forefathers’ assets and the bureau had better ask them.

He said that a team of doctors had carried out complete medical check-up of the accused on the court’s directives and found his condition quite satisfactory.

Khursheed Shah’s counsel advocate Raza Rabbani argued that his client had submitted replies to all the questionnaires given to him by NAB. Since the very first day, his client had been subjected to political revenge, he alleged.

He said that Shah had been in custody for an entire month only on the basis of figures of bank accounts. NAB detectives had interrogated him for three hours daily and had so far grilled him for 100 hours, still they had not been able to reach a conclusion, he said.

He alleged that NAB wanted to forcibly extract a statement of their choice from his client which was a violation of the Constitution. Shah had opened an account for election in 2013, the details of which had already been furnished to NAB, he said.

National Institute of Cardio­v­a­s­cular Diseases head Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar Shah submitted a medical report to the court that showed that the accused had been suffering from cardiac disease for the past 20 years.

In addition, he was a patient of asthma and blood pressure and there was danger to his life, so he should be immediately admitted to the NICVD, said the report.

The court ordered after hearing arguments of both sides that NAB should get the accused examined at the NICVD. When the court felt necessary it would order shifting of the accused to the NICVD, said the order, directing NAB to produce him in court on Nov 4.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2019