KARACHI: An accountability court on Saturday deferred indictment of former information minister Sharjeel Memon and other accused in a case pertaining to the corruption of Rs5.76 billion in the provincial information department.
As the court resumed hearing into the graft reference, police produced Memon and other suspects before it.
At the outset, the PPP leader’s lawyer filed an application seeking an inquiry into what he described illegal arrest of his client and other accused at the hands of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials.
He said a NAB team arrested Memon and other suspects from the premises of the Sindh High Court, which is tantamount to disrespecting courts.
He, therefore, pleaded with the judge to direct the NAB authorities to carry out an inquiry into their ‘illegal’ arrest.
On which, the judge remarked how trial will proceed if applications are filed time and again. The applications are delaying the trial, he observed.
He issued notice to the parties concerned to file their response to the application of Sharjeel Memon.
Meanwhile, suspect Riaz Munir through his counsel filed an application seeking exemption from personal appearance owing to his ill-health.
On October 23, Memon was taken into custody along with other suspects from outside the SHC main building after the court revoked their interim bail.
Memon is also facing another case which pertained to his alleged role in getting the state land allotted and adjusted in 43 Dehs at throwaway price for a property developer, depriving the public exchequer of billions of rupees in revenue.
Sharjeel Memon, who had returned to Pakistan in March this year after his two-year-long self-imposed exile, is facing several charges of misappropriation and corruption.
A reference filed against him related to the alleged award of government advertisements at exorbitant rates, causing loss of more than Rs five billion to the national exchequer.
