Court asked to dismiss application against Sharjeel Memon's arrest

KARACHI: An accountability court here reserved its verdict on an application of former information minister Sharjeel Memon seeking contempt of court proceedings against National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials for arresting him from court premises.

The accountability judge reserved the judgment after hearing arguments of the defence counsel and NAB prosecutor. He adjourned the hearing until January 18.

Defending the arrest of the PPP leader, a NAB prosecutor argued that the bureau arrested the suspects according to the law. Apparently, there didn’t seem any action on the part of NAB officials, which constituted contempt of court, he added.

He said they didn’t arrest any suspect from courtroom as per laws. If the suspects were arrested from the high court’s premises, how a subordinate court could take action in this regard.

If they had any grievance, they should approach the Sindh High Court, the prosecutor suggested.

Besides, he contended, the suspects were arrested outside the high court and pleaded with the judge to dismiss the application.

Memon’s lawyer told the court that the prosecutor was distorting the facts. He suggested that if the NAB officials were summoned to the dock, the truth would come out.

As the court resumed the hearing of the reference, the PPP leader as well as other suspects appeared before the court.

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 in a case pertaining to the corruption of Rs5.76 billion in the provincial information department.

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.