Court approves 2-day transit remand of Agha Siraj Durrani

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad accountability court on Saturday granted two-day transit remand of Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) produced the PPP leader before Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir and requested his transit remand so he can travel to Karachi to appear before the relevant trial court in assets beyond means case.

He was arrested on the premises of the Supreme Court the previous day after a three-judge bench turned down his plea for pre-arrest bail and instead directed him to surrender before the national graft buster.

Durrani appeared before the apex court after evading the anti-corruption watchdog for a month and a half. He had gone into hiding after the Sindh High Court (SHC) revoked his bail.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, took up a bail petition filed by the PPP leader. His lawyer requested the court to grant his client bail so he can surrender before the relevant trial court.

Rejecting the plea, the top court directed Durrani to surrender before the bureau. “We have to proceed with the case as per the law,” Justice Bandial remarked.

“We will take up your bail petition once you surrender,” Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, a member of the bench, said.

On Oct 14, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had turned down the interim bail of provincial assembly speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in the assets reference filed by the corruption watchdog.

The SHC, however, allowed the bail petitions of Mr Durrani’s wife, three daughters, a son and two others in the same reference. Subsequently, a NAB team raided the residence of Durrani to arrest him but it had to return empty-handed as he was not present there. There has been no clue to his whereabouts since then.