Faryal Talpur's remand extended until July 8 on NAB's request

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday extended physical remand of former president Asif Ali Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur until July 8 in the fake bank accounts case.

A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team produced her before Accountability Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik on the conclusion of her 9-day physical remand.

The NAB prosecutor requested an extension in the PPP leader’s remand for further questioning, which was opposed by her lawyers Farooq H Naek and Sardar Latif Khosa.

Extending Talpur’s remand for 14 days, the court directed the bureau to produce her on the next hearing on July 8.

Over the course of the hearing, the PPP leader came to the rostrum and told the court that she is a diabetic patient and suffering from high blood pressure.

However, the judge asked her to take her seat and examined his medical reports.

The investigation officer in the case stated that he wanted to interrogate Talpur about sugarcane supply.

At this, Farooq H Naek questioned what his client had to do with agricultural land when she was arrested in connection with the fake bank accounts. “This [case] is a jumble of things,” he added.

The IO said the bureau is trying to comprehend as to which sugar mills were sold sugarcane as Faryal Talpur stated that the amount would come under the head of sugarcane payments.

“We are trying to ascertain veracity of this claim.”

The NAB prosecutor said the Zardari Group used to supply sugarcane to sugar mills. The people whose lands were acquired for sugarcane cultivation are to be interrogated and then the accused will be confronted with these statements, he added.

Naek said his client owned less one per cent share in the Zardari Group and had no role in the Park Lane case either.

At the previous hearing on June 15, the court had remanded Talpur in the NAB custody on 9-day physical remand until June 24.

NAB prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi had requested the court to remand her in the bureau’s custody for interrogation.

He contended before the court that the PPP leader was arrested on June 14 in pursuance of her arrest warrants issued on June 13 as she was the prime accused in the fake bank accounts case.

Her Islamabad residence has been declared a sub-jail where two female officials of the bureau have been posted, he added.

The prosecutor informed that suspicious transactions of billions of rupees had been made in the bank account of the Zardari Group from fake bank accounts, adding that the account was being operated by Talpur.

Advocate Farooq H Naek, representing the PPP leader, opposed the NAB plea for physical remand.