ISLAMABAD/SUKKUR: Incar­cera­ted leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah and Faryal Talpur — were granted bail in two different cases on Tuesday.

A division bench of the Islamabad High Court comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq granted post-arrest bail to Ms Talpur against surety bonds of Rs10 million in the fake bank accounts case.

An accountability court in Sukkur granted bail to Mr Shah against surety bonds of Rs5m in the assets-beyond-means case.

The IHC allowed Ms Talpur’s bail after an investigation officer of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) could not give a plausible response as to why other influential accused in the fake accounts case, including directors of M/s Bahria Town, were not arrested.

“We are trying to arrest them, but we don’t know about their whereabouts,” replied NAB investigation officer Mohammad Ali Abro.

The PPP leaders are facing fake bank accounts and assets-beyond-means cases

When the court asked how many accused were under arrest in this case, Mr Abro said that so far 11 accused had been arrested, but added that NAB could not arrest the directors of Bahria Town. He informed the court that investigation into the case had been concluded and a reference was pending before the accountability court of Islamabad.

When the court inquired about the transactions in Ms Talpur’s account, the NAB investigation officer said she had received Rs30m from the account of M/s Zardari Group. He said the amount had been transferred to the group’s account from a fictitious account.

“How could NAB conclude that the amount received was the same? Did you mark the money?” asked Justice Farooq.

Justice Minallah pointed out that those who were involved in Rs750m transactions through fake accounts were not arrested, adding that this was how NAB exercised power to arrest people. “NAB does not have unfettered power of arrest,” he observed.

Earlier, when the court resumed hearing on Faryal Talpur’s bail petition, no prosecutor was present in the courtroom. Subsequently, Justice Minallah put off the hearing till 2.30pm.

When the court resumed the hearing, NAB additional prosecutors general Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana and Nayyar Rizvi appeared before it. They argued that NAB had arrested Ms Talpur after due deliberation as there was sufficient material on record to justify her custody.

NAB has accused Ms Talpur of whitening ill-gotten money through fake accounts, acquiring stakes in Summit Bank through fraudulent means, using the Omni Group as a hedge between herself and fake accounts, receiving millions of rupees from two fake accounts, and getting unauthorised payments released for the construction of a plot in Karachi.

In Sukkur, NAB produced Khur–sheed Shah before accountability court judge Ameer Ali Mahaisar on completion of his five-day judicial remand. The NAB prosecutor sought his judicial remand for another 15 days.

Senior counsel Raza Rabbani, representing the PPP leader, opposed it and said his client was being made a target of political revenge and, therefore, the case against him should be discharged. He argued that NAB had neither submitted any reference nor provided any proof in the court against Mr Shah since his arrest three months ago.

When the judge asked why no reference against the PPP leader could be filed in 90 days, the NAB prosecutor said an interim reference against 18 persons, including Mr Shah, had been sent to the NAB chairman for approval. The prosecutor informed the court that the reference would be filed in 15 days.

The prosecutor said NAB had collected evidences of corruption against Mr Shah worth Rs1.24 billion, including benami bank accounts and owning several plots in different societies, bungalows and other properties.

The judge reserved the decision after hearing the arguments from both sides. After two hours, the court granted bail to Mr Shah.

The judge said that when NAB would file the reference, the PPP leader would have to appear before the court.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2019