KARACHI, Nov 19: A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday suspended the sentence of an accountability case convict and ordered her release on bail in the sum of Rs500,000.

Riaz Bibi, wife of retired deputy superintendent of police Jamil Akhtar Kiyani, was convicted by an accountability court for owning plots and bungalows without any source of income and sentenced to serve a five-year imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs30 million. Her property was ordered to be confiscated.

The ex-DSP, co-accused in the accountability reference, was also handed down an identical punishment. Their son, Faisal Jamil, was convicted in absentia.

The accused owned four luxurious bungalows in Karachi and Islamabad and had 17 rupee and dollar bank accounts. The property, according to the National Accountability Bureau, was wrongfully acquired through corruption as neither of the accused could account for it on the basis of his or her known sources of income. It was bought by the former police officer in the names of his wife and an absconding son, the prosecution submitted.

Both convicts challenged their conviction in the high court and Riaz Bibi moved for bail through Advocate Iqtidar Ali Hashmi. She said she being an old, ailing housewife, was entitled to bail pending the hearing of her appeal. The bench, consisting of Justices Wahid Bux Brohi and Rehmat Hussain Jaferi, accepted her plea and enlarged her on bail.