LARKANA: A division bench of the Sindh High Court, Larkana circuit, granted protective bail to Pakistan Peoples Party leader Faryal Talpur on Monday and ordered her to furnish surety and personal bond of Rs2 million in the money laundering case registered by the Federal Investigation Agency.

Ms Talpur accompanied by her lawyers Farooq H. Naek, Safdar Bhutto, Inayatullah Morio and Asif Abdul Razzak Soomro appeared before the bench — comprising Justice Abdul Rasheed Soomro and Justice Irshad Ali Shah — and through a constitutional petition filed under Article 199 of the Constitution requested for the pre-arrest bail.

Read: Zardari, Faryal Talpur declared absconders by FIA in money laundering case

The request for the grant of pre-arrest (protective bail) was made in relation to FIR No 4 of 2018, lodged on July 6 under sections 419/420/468/471/109 of the PPC read with section 5(2) PCA, 1947, read with sections 3 and 4 AML Act, 2010, at the FIA, State Bank Circle, Karachi, and interim charge-sheet No 12/2018, dated 21.7.2018, in case No 43/2018 before a special court, (offences in banks) Sindh, at Karachi.

Ms Talpur asked the bench for grant of one month’s protective bail, but the bench did not agree to her request. Later, her lawyers requested for a fortnight, but the bench granted Ms Talpur only six days’ protective bail and ordered her to furnish the surety and personal bond of Rs2m.

Ms Talpur is contesting the July 25 elections from the Sindh Assembly’s constituency PS-10 (Larkana-I) against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Amir Bakhsh Bhutto.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2018