ISLAMABAD: Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur were granted an extension in bail by Islamabad High Court in different graft cases that the duo is facing, ARY News reported on Wednesday.
The PPP co-chairman and his sister are already out on bail and an extension was sought by their legal counsel Farooq H. Naik from the high court today, which was granted.
The case was heard by a two member bench consisting of Justice Amir Farooqui and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani.
The two defendants appeared before the court for the proceedings.
Zardari was granted an extension on his bail which he was already granted in various corruption cases against him. Zardari’s legal counsel Farooq H. Naik revealed that 25 inquiries against Zardari were in progress in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Naik argued that the chairman NAB did not have any jurisdiction to arrest someone on mere allegations.
Farooq Naik also pleaded to the court to separate the Mushtaq and Sons (MASCC) case from the ongoing cases against Zardari.
The court in-turn replied that the MASCC case will be separated only if it does not fit the criterion of all the other cases and inquires against the PPP co-chairman.
Naik then requested the court to postpone the proceedings of the cases till, after Eid.
The NAB prosecutor argued that whenever a case reached it’s maturity, a petition against the proceeding was filed, implying delaying tactics by the defendants.
“NAB has already filed warrants pertaining to matured petitions,” said the NAB prosecutor.
The court approved bail extension plea by Asif Zardari in five cases and also granted him bail in two new cases.
The PPP co-chairman also spoke to media about the cases after the proceedings. To a question that all the NAB cases against him were similar in nature, Zardari said: “Who else would be deemed rich in this country if not we.”
