Rs6b corruption: Indictment of Sharjeel Memon deferred again

Files plea saying he needs urgent medical treatment

KARACHI: An accountability court deferred on Monday the indictment of former provincial information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, Inam Akbar and others in a reference on charge of Rs6 billion corruption in advertisements.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed the reference on October 2 last year, accusing Sharjeel Memon, Inam Akbar and others of corruption in awarding provincial government’s public campaigns and advertisements to electronic media.



Sharjeel Memon and co-accused were arrested by the NAB after the Sindh High Court (SHC) cancelled their interim bail on October 23 this year.

Besides him, the former provincial information secretary Zulfiqar Ali Shalwani, deputy directors of information department Anita Baloch, Mansoor Ahmed Rajput and Mohammed Yousuf Kaboro, Syed Masood Hashmi of the Orient Communication (PVT) Ltd, Gulzar Ali and Salman Mansoor of Adarts and Inam Akbar of Evernew Concepts were among the 17 accused cited in the reference.

On Monday, the accountability court was set to frame charges against all accused, who were in attendance except for Gulzar Ali.

An application was moved on behalf of Gulzar Ali, pleading to excuse him from appearing for a day.

This prompted the court to defer the indictment of all accused till the next hearing.

Meanwhile, Memon’s lawyer moved an application, asking the court to tell the provincial government to form a medical board for examination.

According to the plea, the former minister urgently needed proper medical treatment, but such facilities were not available at the hospital in prison. It argued that his life was at risk because of delays in providing proper medical care.

The court is also expected to pass an order on the application on the next hearing.



Previously, the court dismissed an application moved by the prison authorities, seeking to set up a medical board for examining the PPP leader so that he could be shifted out of the prison for medical treatment. The court ordered Memon to be shifted from hospital back to prison.

On November 18, he was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) for urgent treatment.