Karachi (Staff Report): An accountability court on Thursday granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) physical remand of Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani till March 1.
The NAB officials presented the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader before the accountability court amid tight security. The anti-graft body sought physical remand of Durrani.
During the hearing, the NAB prosecutor told the court that the PPP leader was accused of possessing assets beyond means.
The NAB prosecutor requested the accountability court to grant 14-day physical remand of Siraj Durrani as the matter was in inquiry stage.
At this, Durrani's lawyer said that the PPP leader's house was raided and officials misbehaved with the women in the house. My client is not being given medicines and is not allowed to meet his family.
He informed the court that an appeal would be filed, so that Durrani could be allowed to take his medication and meet his family.
The counsel added that there was no need to grant his physical remand of the Sindh Assembly Speaker.
However, the court granted NAB the physical remand of the PPP leader till March 1.
On Wednesday, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani was arrested by NAB from Islamabad on February 20.
He was under investigation in three cases pertaining to illegal appointments, accumulation of assets beyond known sources of income and embezzlement of funds.
The NAB had sought seven-day transit remand of the PPP leader, but the accountability court granted three-day transit remand and directed to present him before the relevant court in Karachi within three days.
The Sindh Assembly Speaker was then shifted to Karachi.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) dismissed all the review petitions filed by the Pakistan Peoples Party in the fake accounts case.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Faisal Arbab and Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard the review petition filed by Asif Zardari, Faryal Talpur and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, challenging the apex court’s directives in the suo motu case pertaining to money laundering of billions through fictitious bank accounts.
After hearing the case for about four hours, the top court rejected the petitions.
Zardari’s counsel, Advocate Latif Khosa, filed a separate plea on the former president’s behalf for constitution of a larger bench.
The former president had requested the top court to bar FIA from running a ‘parallel inquiry’ into the money laundering case as the National Accountability Bureau was already involved in the investigations.
“The court’s orders were being violated as the FIA was still continuing its investigation in the fake accounts case,” the petition had stated.