Graft scams: SHC seeks arguments on accountability court's jurisdiction to issue NBWs

Hearing adjourned till November 13

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) sought on Monday arguments from the attorney-general and provincial prosecutor-general on jurisdiction of the accountability court to issue arrest warrants against accused persons after filing of graft references.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, sought such arguments on applications of former provincial information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon and Iqbal Z Ahmed, a co-accused with the former petroleum adviser Dr Asim Hussain, against issuance of their arrest warrants after filing of references in multi-billion graft scams.

The federal anti-graft watchdog has filed separate references against Dr Asim and Memon, both close aides of the former president Asif Ali Zardari, over their alleged involvement in multi-billion corruption.

Last week, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had arrested the former minister after SHC cancelled his interim pre-arrest bail in connection with Rs5.76 billion corruption in award of contracts for government advertisement campaigns in electronic media.

The former minister, along with the then provincial information secretary, Zulfiqar Ali Shalwani, deputy directors Anita Baloch, Mansoor Ahmed Rajput and Mohammed Yousuf Kaboro and others were booked for allegedly committing corruption to the tune of Rs5 billion in awarding government advertisements to the electronic media between 2013 and 2015.

The national anti-graft watchdog had filed a reference against him in September last year, stating that investigations had revealed that an amount of Rs5,76 billion was paid to seven advertisement companies in violation of the Sindh Public Procurement Rules, 2010.



Karachi's Accountability Court-IV had issued on October 1, 2016 non-bailable warrants (NBW) for the arrest of Sharjeel and other co-accused. The same court had also issued NBWs against Ahmed and co-accused.

Advocate Farooq H Naek, who represented Memon and Ahmed, argued that the accountability court had no jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants against the accused persons after filing of the reference. He pointed out that the arrest warrants were issued the same day the reference was filed against the petitioner.

On the contrary, the lawyer argued that no arrest warrants were issued by the accountability courts in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.



Naek alleged that the accountability courts in Sindh were adopting a dual standard in graft cases, which is contrary to the law. He further argued that under the provisions of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 the accountability courts had no jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants when an inquiry is underway or reference has been filed.

The judges were told that the accountability court had jurisdiction to grant pre-arrest bail, but the same relief was not given to Ahmed, in contrary to the provisions of the law. Therefore, he had to obtain a protective bail from the Lahore High Court and surrendered before the accountability court.

Therefore, the court was pleaded to restrain the accountability courts in Sindh from issuing arrest warrants against the accused persons in connection with references.



Justice Phulpoto observed that the unequal applicability of the federal laws, as alleged by the petitioner's lawyer, was causing concerns.
Justice Karim Khan Agha, the other bench member, questioned that the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 was a federal anti-graft law, but it was allegedly not being equally applied across the board in the country.

He further questioned why the NAB authorities had not challenged the order passed by the concerned accountability court in Islamabad.

The judges noted the relevant court had first ordered the arrest of the accused Maryam Nawaz and her husband, retired Captain Muhammad Safdar, both daughter and son-in-law of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in the Panama Papers case, but later granted them bail.



The bench issued notices to the top federal government lawyer and top anti-graft prosecutor to argue on the jurisdiction of the accountability court to issue arrest warrants against the accused persons after references were filed by NAB against them.

The hearing was adjourned till November 13.

Case history

Ahmed, a former chief executive officer of the Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) is nominated in a Rs17 billion corruption reference. Filing a reference, NAB had alleged that Ahmed, along with the former petroleum adviser, Dr Asim, the managing director of Sui Southern Gas Company, Khalid Rehman, as well as former senior officials of the gas utility and the Oil and Gas Development Company, misused their official authority to fraudulently award contracts of five gas fields to JJVL.