Court adjourns hearing of reference against Sharjeel Memon till October 5

KARACHI: A local court has adjourned hearing of a corruption reference against the former Sindh minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sharjeel Memon and other accused till October 4, ARY News reported on Saturday.

The court called for proceeding arguments in the reference after accepting it for hearing.

The court expressed outrage over usage of inappropriate word for court by the defence counsel over calling ‘Adalat Sahib [Mr Court]’ in the hearing.

The judge gave observation, “The court is only court here. However, a judge can be called as ‘judge Sahib [Mr Judge].’

Later, the defence counsel of an accused Izhar Hussain tendered apology before the judge after the court’s observation.

The court called parties in the case to proceed arguments and adjourned the hearing till October 4.

Memon is accused of awarding government advertisements at exorbitant rates when he was Sindh’s information minister. A reference about Rs. 5.76 billion corruption in the information department being heard by an accountability court.

He was arrested by the accountability bureau in 2017 and remained in jail for 20 months. He is currently out of jail after court granted him bail.

Earlier on September 6, The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had approved references against former Sindh minister Sharjeel Memon and former managing director PSO Irfan Khalil.

The Executive Board meeting of the anti-graft body in Islamabad was chaired by its chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.

The meeting granted approval to filing references against Sharjeel Memon, former managing director PSO Irfan Khalil and Abdul Hameed.

The board also approved inquiries against Babar Ghauri, Senator Kulsoom Parveen, Awais Shah, Fawad Hassan Fawad and Ghulam Ali Nizamani.