SHC dismisses bail plea of Nisar Morai, others

Court orders the accused be provided medical facilities in jail

KARACHI: A two-member bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC), headed by Justice Iqbal, dismissed the bail pleas of former Fisherman Co-operative Society (FCS) chairperson Nisar Morai, Abdul Saeed and Amjad Iqbal on medical grounds in a corruption reference against the society.

The bench, however, directed that the three accused be provided medical facilities in jail. It said that the trial court can be approached if they were in need of further treatment. According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor, undeniable evidence is available against Morai and several others.



Morai is reportedly not affected by any serious disease. The federal anti-graft watchdog had accused Morai and other officials and contractors of misusing their authority, embezzlement of funds, illegal appointments and awarding fake contracts during 2014-15, causing a loss of over Rs343 million to the national exchequer.

Morai is considered as one of the influential leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party in Sindh. He was appointed the chief of the FCS in a controversial manner in January, 2014 and mysteriously disappeared soon after the Rangers had arrested former FCS vice-chairperson Sultan Qamar Siddiqui and others in June, 2015.

According to the counsel of the accused, NAB has failed to present any concrete evidence against Morai and others.

Airport attack case

The SHC has sought arguments from the counsel of the petitioners, including nominated suspect Sarmad Siddqui and several others, in a petition filed in the airport attack case against the Counter-Terrorism Department authorities. A two-member bench heard the case on Wednesday.

The CTD authorities' counsel maintained that the petitioners named in the airport attack case remain missing.



The court ordered the counsel of the petitioner to convince the court that the plea of missing persons can be heard further. The court adjourned the hearing until November 28. The petition maintained that the CTD authorities abducted Shah Nawaz Siddiqui and Iqbal Patel and freed them, taking over Rs60 million and property. It said that no case against the CTD authorities has been registered yet. It requested the court to register a case against CTD authorities in a ransom case.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2018.