SHC hears appeals against money laundering case transfer today

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) will take up today appeals of former president Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and others against the banking court’s decision of transferring the money laundering case from Karachi to Rawalpindi.

A division bench headed by SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh will hear the case.

In the previous hearing, the SHC had issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit comments on the appeals challenging the banking court’s verdict that transferred the money laundering case against them to Islamabad.

The bench rejected a request by Zardari’s lawyer, Farooq H Naek to summon the relevant record of the case.

The counsel contended before the court that the Supreme Court had issued no directions with regard to the case transfer to Islamabad. “This case doesn’t fall within the ambit of NAB.”

The banking court had been hearing the case until March 15 when it transferred the matter to Islamabad on a request by the bureau, he stated, adding that this was not a case of corruption which should have been transferred to a NAB court.

Zardari and his sister had on March 16 filed the petitions assailing the banking court’s verdict. They termed it as unlawful and unconstitutional and pleaded to the high court to declare the decision as void.

Apart from the PPP leaders’ petitions, Omni Group owner Anwar Majeed and his son Ghani Majeed also filed the petitions in the SHC challenging the verdict.

The banking court had last week transferred the case against the former president and others to Rawalpindi on a request by NAB.

The court also cancelled interim bail of the 19 suspects in the case. Following the ruling, NAB issued notices to Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, directing them to appear before its Rawalpindi office on March 20. The court directed the authorities to return surety amount to the suspects.