According to NAB, the accused had bought a 1,000-square-foot land at a high price in Dubai, which had resulted in a loss of Rs9 million to the national treasury. PHOTO: FILE
A two-member bench of SHC, headed by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro and comprising Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi, heard the plea.
The court accepted Kamal's plea for interim bail till August 5, against a surety of Rs500,000 and issued notices to NAB Director General (DG) and NAB's prosecutor on Kamal's request.
Kamal, who appeared before the court, was accompanied by PSP President Anis Qaimkhani and other party leaders. He deposited the surety amount with the court.
During the hearing, counsel for Kamal, Hassan Sabir, argued that his client had appeared before NAB after he received a call up notice. A reference against him in this case has already been filed, he said.
The court asked what allegations were levelled against the accused in the case. Sabir replied that he has been accused of illegally allotting 198 plots located along the coastline in Clifton.
The court granted interim bail to Kamal against a surety of Rs1 million.
Sabir objected over the surety amount and said that other accused have been granted bail against a surety of Rs500,000. Court asked him to present copies of those bail orders and reduced the surety amount after Sabir presented the bail copies. It also asked Kamal to cooperate with NAB.
The court also issued notices to NAB DG and NAB's prosecutor and sought replies from them.
Bail pleas accepted
Meanwhile, the bench also accepted the bail pleas filed by the three accused in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) corruption case.
The bench heard the bail pleas of the accused Ayaz Niazi, Muhammad Zahoor and Amin Qasimdad and expressed annoyance that NAB officials haven't been able to present the material before the court even after 10 years.
Addressing NAB officials, Justice Kalhoro warned them not to misguide the court. Work in accordance with the law and don't blackmail anyone, he said. Don't tell the court whether the accused should be given bail or not, he remarked.
The NAB prosecutor had informed the court that new material against the accused had been found. But the court, addressing the NAB prosecutor, said that the citizens cannot be kept in prison at NAB's will.
The court accepted the bail pleas of the accused and ordered each of them to submit a surety of Rs1 million.
According to NAB, the accused had bought a 1,000-square-foot land at a high price in Dubai, which had resulted in a loss of Rs9 million to the national treasury.
Consequently, a corruption case was registered against Niazi, Zahoor and Qasimdad. The trial court gave the verdict on the case in 2014 but later the high court referred the case back to the accountability court on NAB's appeal. NAB had made the appeal on the pretext that new material against the accused had been found.
Corruption
The same bench refused to hear the bail plea filed by Sarang Latif Chandio, who is a co-accused in Rs5.76-billion corruption reference.
Chandio, an officer in the Sindh Information Department, is a co-accused in the corruption case in the department, along with the former provincial information minister Sharjeel Memon.
The bench refused to hear the plea and said that the plea should be heard by the same bench that heard Memon's bail plea.
Chandio is presently imprisoned while the case is under trial in the accountability court.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2019.
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