An Islamabad accountability court on Monday granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) 10-day physical remand of two more suspects arrested in connection with the fake accounts case investigation.
NAB Rawalpindi on Sunday had arrested former Karachi Development Authority director, Najam Zaman, and ex-director of the Special Initiative Department, Hassan Ali Memon, in connection with an investigation into the holders of public office, legal persons and others regarding the Sindh government’s illegal award of contract to M/S Harish and company and others.
According to NAB, Memon is being investigated for an alleged misuse of authority to extend favour to contractor M/S Harish in violation of rules and regulations. Zaman, in connivance with others accused, allegedly illegally allotted the plots no ST-28 and ST-28A in Clifton, Karachi, NAB said.
Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir approved the physical remand of Zaman and Memon and directed NAB to produce the suspects before court on March 28.
NAB is already investigating three others, namely Aftab Memon who is reportedly a close aide to Zardari, Mohammad Shabbir and Abdul Jabbar, in the fake accounts case. The three are on physical remand till March 21, after which they will be produced before the accountability court.
During today’s proceedings, the court allowed family members of Zaman and Memon to meet them in NAB’s lockup. The accountability court however rejected the Zaman’s spouse’s request to serve him homemade meals.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s Karachi team today also handed over the fake accounts case record to officials of Accountability Court 1 in Islamabad.
The court’s Registrar’s Office raised administrative objections over the transfer of the reference from Karachi’s banking court to the accountability court in Islamabad.
Sources said the record transferred to Islamabad was incomplete and not in sequence, due to which the Registrar’s Office had asked NAB to re-submit the record after removing the deficiencies.
IHC grants bail to Nimr Majeed
Separately, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday granted bail to Nimr Majeed who is also a suspect in the money laundering case.
An IHC division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani heard Majeed’s request and granted him interim bail until April 2.
The court also directed NAB to produce the record related to his suspected involvement in the money laundering case and ordered Majeed to join the investigation into the case.
Nimr’s spouse, Noor Majeed, has also petitioned the IHC against placement of her name on the no-fly list. She also sought pre-arrest bail from the IHC.
According to her petition, FIA officials on February 4, 2019, stopped her from proceeding abroad because of the alleged involvement of his family members in the money laundering case.
Last month, a NAB prosecutor had filed a statement with the trial court on behalf of NAB chairman Javed Iqbal, stating that the investigation of the case had been transferred to NAB by the apex court. Therefore, he requested the trial court’s judge to transfer the proceedings of trial in the present case to the accountability court in Rawalpindi. Following the arguments, the court had reserved its verdict last week.
On Friday, the court announced the verdict, allowing the case to be transferred from Karachi to Rawalpindi.
Subsequently, the banking court cancelled the interim bails granted to Asif Ali Zardari, Faryal Talpur and others as the case had been transferred to a different court.
The banking court’s orders were challenged by Zardari in the Sindh High Court on Saturday.
