KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday sought comments from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on post-arrest bail plea of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and a former provincial minister Sharjeel Inam Memon in Rs 5.76 billion corruption case.
Sharjeel, along with the officials of a private advertising agency Inam Akbar, Riaz Munir, Mohammad Hanif, Asim Amir Khan Sikandar and others was booked by the corruption watchdog for causing billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer through ‘embezzling’ in the Sindh information department’s electronic campaign.
The former minister, who was arrested by the NAB after the SHC had revoked his interim pre-arrest bail on October 23 last year, approached the court through his counsel Sardar Latif Khosa and sought bail after arrest. The counsel told the judges that the former minister was suffering from disease but had not been provided due medical facilities in the prison.
The SHC division bench issued notices to NAB’s prosecutor and others, seeking their replies on bail plea by January 10.
According to NAB, the PPP lawmaker and 17 others, in connivance with each other, had caused Rs 5.76 billion loss to the national exchequer through the embezzlement in the Sindh government’s advertisement campaign on electronic media.
The bureau said in its reference filed in the Accountability Court that the investigation was conducted regarding corruption and corrupt practices in the advertisement awareness campaigns on TV and FM channels between July 2013 and June 2015 and it was found that the accused acted in connivance with each other resulting in loss to the national exchequer.