SHC rejects Memon's plea to remove his name from ECL

Trial in accountability court will suffer due to his absence, prosecutor argues

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected on Tuesday petition filed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader, Sharjeel Inam Memon, seeking to take his name off the Exit Control List (ECL).

Headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, a two-judge bench dismissed the former provincial information minister's petition after the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) special prosecutor informed the bench that two corruption inquiries against him were under way.

A day earlier, another bench had rejected similar plea of the PPP Karachi President and former president Asif Ali Zardari's close aide, Dr Asim Hussain, seeking removal of his name from the ECL to allow him to travel abroad for medical treatment.



The top anti-graft body had filed a reference against Memon in the accountability court, regarding the alleged corruption in the advertisement campaign of the provincial information department. In November last year, Memon was granted protective bail against a surety of Rs2 million and was ordered to deposit his original passport with the SHC's nazir.

The petitioner's lawyer informed the SHC that the petitioner wanted to travel abroad for the purpose of medical treatment as such facilities were not available in the country

On the other hand, the prosecutor, Altaf Hussain, alleged that when he was provincial minister for information, Memon was involved in corruption of Rs5.76 billion by running government awareness campaigns in the media on behalf of the provincial government. Former information secretary Zulfiqar Shalwani and others were also nominated in the reference, which was pending before the relevant accountability court. The court was informed that four out of seven advertisement agencies had confessed to corrupt practices and had voluntarily returned the money.



The prosecutor further argued that a separate inquiry regarding illegal adjustment, allotment and consolidation of hundreds of acres of the state land in favour of private real estate tycoon was also under way against the former minister. Hussain told the court that the petitioner had played key role in illegal adjustments, allotments and consolidation of the state land in his capacity as provincial minister for local government department.