Zardari’s lawyer gets pre-arrest bail

NAB had issued a call-up notice to lawyer in money laundering case

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday granted protective bail to Abu Bakar Zardari, who is said to be the lawyer of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari, in a money laundering and fake bank accounts case.

Abu Bakar approached the high court after he received a call-up notice from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and fearing his arrest requested the court for pre-arrest bail.

The petitioner stated that the NAB had issue a call-up notice on April 23, in the Park Lane Estate inquiry case.

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He stated that the NAB has summoned him on April 30, but it may arrest him so his bail be approved.  He appealed to the court to stop the NAB from arresting him and for the call-up notice issued by NAB to be termed avoid and null.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh and Justice Omar Sial, approved his protective bail for 10 days against a surety of Rs0.2 million and restrained the NAB from arresting him. It directed Abu Bakar to cooperate with the NAB in the investigation and asked him to appear before the Accountability Court in Islamabad within 10-days.

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Bail pleas rejected

The SHC rejected the bail pleas filed by arrested police officials Ghulam Raza, Abdul Qadir and Raja Ishtiaq in the reference of corruption in the Sindh police department.

A two-member-bench comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto and Justice KK Agha was hearing the pleas. Court, however, ordered the trial court to announce the verdict in the case within four months.

According to NAB, the arrested police officials have been accused of causing Rs150 million loss to the national exchequer in the name of maintenance of police cars and giving to contracts to people of their choice without tenders. Other accused in the case include former IG Ghulam Haider Jamali, former AIG Faisal Bashir Memon, Sarmad Midhat Hussain, Ali Asghar and others.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2019.