NAB issues arrest warrants for Zardari in fake accounts case

IHC will hear former president’s interim-bail plea today

ISLAMABAD:

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday issued arrest warrants for former president Asif Ali Zardari over suspicious transaction worth Rs8 billion in the fake accounts case.

According to Express, NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal signed the arrest warrants.

Meanwhile, a two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), presided by Justice Aamer Farooq, would hear Zardari’s interim-bail plea today.

The court had sought arguments from Zardari's lawyer and NAB. The anti-graft body had filed a written reply in IHC which stated that the former premier is required for investigation.

In September, an accountability court in Islamabad indicted the former president, his sister Faryal Talpur and other accused in the mega-money laundering reference pertaining to the fake accounts case.

Zardari is facing multiple corruption cases that had stemmed from a mega-money laundering scandal, which came into limelight in 2018.

The former president, Faryal and several of their business associates are being probed as part of a 2015 case regarding fake accounts and fictitious transactions — which were initially found to have totalled Rs35 billion — conducted through 29 ‘benami’ accounts.