KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday asked the National Accountability Bureau to complete investigations against Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani and file comments till May 29.

The provincial assembly speaker through his lawyer moved the SHC seeking bail and pleaded to declare his arrest illegal.

When the matter came up for hearing before the two-judge SHC bench headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh, the bench inquired from the investigating officer of NAB about the status of the probe.

The IO said that the preliminary stage of investigations had been completed and the suspect was remanded to judicial custody, adding that further investigations were under way and sought four weeks to complete it.

The bench directed the IO to complete the investigations and file a comprehensive reply till May 29 and remarked that if the investigations were not wrapped up within the stipulated period then the court would decide the applications in the light of the available evidence.

When asked how many illegal vehicles Mr Durrani allegedly owned, the IO said that the suspect was in possession of 25 cars which were allegedly acquired through illegal means.

NAB had arrested the speaker of the provincial assembly in February from a hotel in Islamabad to investigate him for allegedly accumulating moveable and immovable assets beyond his source of income, making 352 illegal appointments, embezzlement of public funds in the construction of the MPA Hostel and the new Sindh Assembly building as well as appointment of project directors for these projects.

On April 12, an accountability court had remanded him to prison after refusing the request of the investigating officer seeking fifth extension in his physical remand.

Former administrator gets protective bail

The same bench on Wednesday granted 10-day protective bail to the former administrator of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Mohammad Hussain Syed in the fake accounts case.

The applicant through his lawyer moved the SHC for bail and without dilating upon the merits of the case, the bench granted transitory-cum-protective bail to the applicant against a surety bond of Rs200,000.

The bench directed the applicant to surrender before the court concerned within 10 days.

NAB had filed the first interim reference before an accountability court in Islamabad earlier this month in the fake bank accounts case involving former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.

The anti-graft watchdog had also nominated former KMC administrator Mohammad Hussain Syed, former metropolitan commissioners Matanat Ali Khan and Shamsuddin Siddique, former Karachi Development Authority director Najamuz Zaman, additional director Syed Jamil Ahmed and others in the reference.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2019