KARACHI: A banking court on Wednesday further extended interim pre-arrest bail of Pakistan Peoples Party leader Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in the fake bank accounts/money laundering case till Feb 14 as it was told that the investigating officer (IO) of the Federal Investigation Agency was busy in Islamabad.

The court also adjourned the hearing of bail applications of Anwar Majeed, a close aide to Mr Zardari and the chairman of the Omni Group, and his son Abdul Ghani Majeed over the absence of the IO and for want of record.

At the outset of the proceedings, Munir Bhatti, the counsel for Anwar Majeed, said that the Supreme Court had issued a final order in the fake bank accounts case and referred its inquiry to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Hearing of bail applications of Anwar Majeed, son adjourned

He requested the court to take up the bail applications of Anwar Majeed and his son for hearing as they had been behind bars for last five months. He argued that a restraining order of the apex court barring the trial court from entertaining any application was no more in the field.

However, the FIA prosecutors sought time for arguments because the IO of the case was busy in Islamabad and the record was also not available. The prosecutors said that they had yet to receive the certified copy of the apex court’s order.

Advocate Shaukat Hayat, representing former chairman of the Pakistan Stock Exchange Hussain Lawai and banker Taha Raza, argued that the FIA had been using delaying tactics in filing a final investigation report since August. As the court had already taken cognizance, it might treat the interim charge sheet as the final one and also hear his application regarding supply of documents, he said.

However, Judge Tariq Mehmood Khoso observed how he could proceed with the case since neither the IO was present nor the record was available, adding that let the order of the apex court and the record come before the trial court.

The court further extended interim bail of Mr Zardari, his sister and other suspects till Feb 14 and put off the hearing of post-arrest bail applications of Anwar Majeed and his son till Feb 6.

The judge ordered the jail authorities to provide required medical treatment to Abdul Ghani Majeed after his lawyer said that treatment was not being provided to his client.

The FIA had named Mr Zardari, his sister, Anwar Majeed, his sons and over 15 others as suspects in the interim charge sheet filed before the banking court in August mentioning alleged money laundering of over Rs4 billion after 29 ‘fake’ bank accounts were opened in the Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and United Bank Ltd. Later, Mr Zardari and his sister obtained interim bail.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2019