Bail of former NBP head extended

Sindh High Court fixes hearing on July 31

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) extended on Monday interim pre-arrest bail granted to the former president of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Syed Ali Raza, in connection with alleged corruption of Rs17 billion in Bangladesh.

SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, who headed the two-judge bench, directed the lawyers representing the former NBP chief and other accused to ensure their presence on July 31.

In April this year Raza obtained interim pre-arrest bail to avoid arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which is investigating a scam in the state-owned bank's Dhaka branch.



The petitioner argued that the inquiry relates to two bank employees, Zubair Ahmed and SM Jahanzeb, who were allegedly involved in illegal activities overseas that caused losses worth Rs17 billion to the national exchequer.

In his plea, Raza had denied having any role in the scam, arguing that being the president of the bank, he was dependent on the group chiefs who were supposed to check any irregularity on the part of the bank's 16,000 employees.

However, the NAB investigation officer had issued, on August 21, 2015, a call-up notice to appear for the investigation. Fearing that he might be arrested, Raza requested the court for pre-arrest bail. On April 3, the court granted him bail in a sum of Rs500,000.



During Monday's proceedings, the petitioner's lawyer, Haider Waheed, was not available as he was appearing before the Supreme Court in another case. Fixing the matter for July 31, the bench directed the lawyers representing Raza and the co-accused to appear before the court to argue on the bail pleas.