IHC grants ex-minister, wife transitory bail

Court directs petitioners to meet NAB official within days of arriving in country

ISLAMABAD: A former federal communications minister and his wife heaved a sigh of relief on Tuesday after the Islamabad High Court granted them transitory bail for 15 days in a corruption reference against them.

The Islamabad High Court’s division bench, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, granted the bail against surety bonds worth Rs1 million each and a personal bond of the same amount with directions to meet National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa director general within 48 hours of their arrival in the country from Dubai.

Later, the court ordered the couple to surrender before the court concerned during the period of the transitory bail.

Former communications minister Arbab Alamgir and his wife former MNA Asma Arbab had sought for protective bail or a restraining order for few days from the IHC against arrests by NAB who had filed a reference against the couple for allegedly accumulating wealth ‘beyond known sources of income’.

This is the second case in less than a month in which the IHC granted relief to suspects in their absence.

Previously, the IHC had on March 15 granted bail to former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon after his counsel sought protective bail. Initially, the bench had maintained that the bail application could not be entertained unless the petitioner surrenders before the court.

However, the court later allowed Memon to surrender himself before the court with directions that “the petitioner shall not be arrested till his surrender before this court”. Since the petitioner was ready to join the process of investigation, the court observed, he should be encouraged.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2017.