Reply sought from NAB on PPP leader’s plea

SC bench sends notice to national graft buster

KARACHI:

The Supreme Court has sought a reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the petitions of PPP senior leader Khursheed Shah and his son Farrukh Shah in the case pertaining to assets beyond means.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial adjourned the proceedings for two weeks after issuing a notice to the national graft buster. Farrukh’s lawyer, Farooq H Naek, asked for the court to set a date for the next hearing this week, but the judge said this wasn’t possible.

“I am fighting some important cases where I have to be present,” said Naek, who also represents Asif Ali Zardari and Faryal Talpur.

Justice Bandial said some members of the bench have to be in Quetta next week. He set the next hearing on October 5.

At the outset of the hearing, the PPP leader’s lawyer Raza Rabbani said his client has been in jail for a year. The case against him relates to 12 assets and three accounts, he said.

The NAB prosecutor told the court that a Sindh High Court verdict gave nine suspects bail in the case. “We have filed appeals against the bail, they need to be heard too,” he said. The court asked NAB to submit its appeals against the nine suspects’ bails.

Shah was arrested in Islamabad on September 18, 2019. The NAB has nominated Shah and 17 others, including his two wives, two sons, and a son-in-law, in a reference pertaining to making assets worth Rs1.23 billion beyond his known sources of income.