ISLAMABAD - An Accountability Court (AC) Monday directed NAB to re-submit case record pertaining to mega money laundering and fake accounts against former president Asif Ali Zardari, his sister and others after rectification.
The Registrar Office of anti graft court told the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) that the case record, submitted by the department, was incomplete and not properly arranged. It asked the NAB to resubmit it after necessary rectifications.
It may be mentioned that the fake accounts and mega money laundering case against former president had been shifted to Islamabad from a Karachi banking court.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) produced the case documents against chief financial official Omni Group Aslam Masood and others before the court in presence of NAB officials.
After conducting scrutiny, the Registrar Office handed over the record to NAB declaring it as incomplete and not properly arranged.
It may be mentioned here that as many as six accused had been arrested in this case so far. On the request of NAB, a banking court of Karachi had ordered to shift the case to Islamabad’s accountability court.
Nimar bail
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday accepted the interim bail plea of Nimar Majeed Khawaja till April 2 in mega money laundering case and directed the accused to join NAB’s investigation.
A divisional bench of IHC, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhter Kiyani, conducted hearing on a bail petition, filed by Nimar Majeed, the son of Omni Group’s head Anwar Majeed.
The petitioner’s counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi Advocate pleaded before the bench that his client had no connection with money laundering and fake bank accounts case.
He prayed the court to issue directives to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to produce case details against Nimar Majeed.
After hearing arguments, the court barred the NAB to arrest the accused till April 2, and also directed the petitioner to join investigation of anti-graft body.
Park Lane probe
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on March 20 will hand over a questionnaire comprising 100 questions to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the fake bank accounts case.
They have been summoned to appear before the bureau in Rawalpindi in connection with the Park Lane Estate case and the members of a joint investigation team (JIT) of the anti-graft watchdog will inquire them about accusations over Park Lane Estate Company (Pvt) Ltd — a Karachi-based real estate firm co-owned by Zardari and Bilawal.
According to sources, Zardari had acquired the company illegally through a front man, Iqbal Memon, in 1989. In 2009, Zardari and Bilawal became shareholders of the company.
Moreover, both of them have a stake of 25 percent each in the company and Zardari had the authority to use the company accounts at his discretion as the director of the firm.
Allegedly, billions of rupees were transferred to the company’s accounts via fake bank accounts while the company documents dating back to the year 2008 show Zardari’s signatures as the director. The company took out loans of billions of rupees from the banks.
Contrarily, Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur on Saturday filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) to challenge the banking court’s decision to allow transfer of fake bank accounts case to Islamabad.
Seeking annulment of the banking court’s decision, Zardari and Talpur termed the move “illegal”.
Last month, the NAB had filed a petition with the trial court on behalf of NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, stating that the investigation of the case had been transferred to the anti-graft watchdog by the apex court. The petition had requested the trial court to transfer the proceedings of the case to an accountability court in Rawalpindi.
Following the petition, the banking court had reserved its verdict earlier this week. On Friday, the court announced its verdict and allowed the transfer of the fake accounts and money laundering case from Karachi to an accountability court in Rawalpindi.