Karachi (January 27, 2018): An accountability court will resume hearing of Rs5.76 billion corruption reference filed against former Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon and others by National Accountability Bureau today.
On January 23, the accountability court had conducted an in camera hearing of the corruption reference filed against Sharjeel Inam Memon, officials of information department and others.
Click Play Button to Watch this Video
The accountability court judge conducted the hearing in a closed courtroom, barring the reporters of both electronic and print media from entering.
Later, the hearing was adjourned till January 27.
Memon is currently in jail following his arrest on October 23 after the dismissal of his pre-arrest bail by the Sindh High Court. The post-arrest bail is still also pending before the court.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker and 17 others for allegedly causing Rs5.76billion loss to the national exchequer through the embezzlement in the Sindh government’s advertisement campaign on electronic media.
According to the NAB, the investigation was conducted regarding corruption and corrupt practices in the advertisement awareness campaigns on TV and FM channels between July 2013 and June 2015 and it was found that the accused acted with the connivance of each other resulting in a huge loss to the national exchequer.
On January 3, the Supreme Court turned down the bail pleas of former Sindh information minister and PPP leader Sharjeel Memon and two others in the corruption case of Rs5.76 billion.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa heard the bail applications of Sharjeel Inam Memon, former Information Minister Sindh and other co-accused, including Inam Akbar, Yousaf Kabowo, Asim Hameed Khan, Basharat Mirza and Iqbal Z in corruption case of awarding government advertisements at exorbitant rates.
During the hearing, Sardar Latif Khosa requested the court to release his client. However, Justice Asif Saeed observed that the apex court in General (Retd) Fazle Haq case had held that it could not be directly approached for bail after the arrest and asked the learned counsel to approach the relevant forum.
At this, the apex court observed that Sharjeel Inam Memon was already arrested hence they cannot hear his bail application after his arrest.
Related News:
