ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday granted pre-arrest interim bail to former Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah in a case pertaining to money laundering through fake bank accounts.

Mr Shah, who is to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday (today), expressed the apprehension that NAB officials might arrest him during his appearance before the investigation team, and requested the IHC to grant him pre-arrest bail on the grounds that he is a senior citizen.

His petition stated that Mr Shah was 85 years old and thus entitled to pre-arrest bail due to his age.

During the brief hearing on Tuesday, the counsel for the former CM told the court that NAB had summoned Mr Shah in connection with an investigation into Thatta Sugar Mills and Dadu Sugar Mills.

Fearing arrest by NAB, ex-CM sought bail on grounds of old age

The court observed that the petition was about NAB’s call-up notice in the Thatta Sugar Mills inquiry. The counsel said that he would file another petition regarding the second NAB notice about the Dadu Sugar Mills inquiry.

The former chief minister has been named in a report by the joint investigation team tasked with probing the fake accounts case. He is among 172 people named in the report whose names were recommended for being placed on the no-fly list.

The senior politician in his petition contended that he was being politically victimised through the case, and claimed that he had been dragged into the case without any solid evidence.

The IHC division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani granted Mr Shah an interim bail against Rs1 million in surety bonds till the next date of hearing and directed him to cooperate with NAB.

Further hearing of the petition was adjourned till April 8.

In a related matter, the IHC bench advised the counsel for Khawaja Nimar Majeed, who has also been named in the JIT report, to file an application with NAB to get information about pending inquiries against the Majeed family, the owners of the Omni Group.

The lawyer has filed a petition in the IHC, stating that the Majeed family did not know how many cases were pending against the family members with NAB.

The IHC asked the lawyer to submit an application to NAB under the Right of Access to Information Act to get details about the pending inquiries.

The lawyer requested the court to pass an order in this regard, but the court advised him to seek the information by invoking the law.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2019