Verdict reserved on bail application of former top bureaucrat

Muhammad Siddique Memon denies charges of illegal allotment and regularisation of land

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) reserved on Wednesday its verdict on the bail application filed by the former chief secretary, Muhammad Siddique Memon, in a case relating to the alleged illegal allotment and regularisation of land in 1992.

A two-judge bench reserved the order after hearing final arguments from the former top bureaucrat's lawyer and the special prosecutor of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

In August last year, Memon had approached the high court stating that NAB was accusing him of having illegally regularised and allotted six acres of land in Karachi's Scheme 33. The former chief secretary said he had been served a call-up notice by the bureau, calling him in for questioning in the case. He claimed that neither had he allotted such land nor had he regularised it. "The notice from NAB is malafide and interfering in the smooth functioning of the Sindh government," he said.



Memon requested the court to grant him bail before arrest to enable him to appear before NAB for questioning. Previously, the SHC had granted him interim pre-arrest bail for a surety of Rs500,000.

During Wednesday's proceedings, the petitioner’s lawyer, Khalid Javed, argued that the then chief minister was the authority who allowed allotment and regularisation of the land in question. However, the former chief minister was not nominated in the case. The lawyer contended that the applicant had no role in the alleged offence.

The NAB special prosecutor, Altaf Hussain, argued that Memon was a member of the five member committee that had allowed illegal allotment and regularisation of the six acres of government land in 1992.



When questioned why the action was initiated against only one member of the committee, the prosecutor replied that statements of the other committee members had also been recorded. He pleaded the court to recall pre-arrest bail granted to the applicant.

After hearing arguments, the bench reserved its verdict to be announced at a later date. Till then, the judges extended the interim pre-arrest bail granted to Memon.