Zardari remanded in NAB custody for another eleven days

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Friday extended physical remand of former president Asif Ali Zardari for eleven days in the mega money laundering case.

Accountability Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik announced this verdict on a plea by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) demanding a 14-day extension in the former president’s remand.

He directed the corruption watchdog to produce the accused on the next hearing on July 2.

A NAB team presented Zardari before the court upon completion of his previous 11-day physical remand.

NAB prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar requested the judge to hand over the custody of the accused to the bureau for 14 days for interrogation in connection with its investigation into the case.

Advocate Sardar Latif Khosa, representing the PPP co-chairman, opposed the NAB plea.

At the previous hearing, the court had granted the NAB 11-day physical remand of the former president.

The accountability judge ordered that Zardari be presented before the court again on June 21 (today). The PPP co-chairman was presented in the court a day after his arrest.

NAB demanded 14-day physical remand of Zardari, which was opposed by his counsel Farooq H Naek.

The bureau had also placed on record evidence saying that there were eight solid grounds for his arrest.

The bureau arrested the PPP co-chairman from his Islamabad residence after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) turned down his and his sister Faryal Talpur’s plea for extension in their interim bail in the case on June 10.

Later, the accountability bureau also took Faryal Talpur into its custody and declared her Islamabad residence a sub-jail to detain her on June 14.