KARACHI: A judge of the Sindh High Court on Monday recused himself from hearing the bail application of former provincial information minister Sharjeel Memon in a corruption reference.

The former minister is being tried by an accountability court for alleged corruption in awarding advertisements to electronic media. He along with accused Mansoor Ahmed Rajput, the then deputy director of information department, moved the bail application.

When the bail pleas came up for hearing before a two-judge SHC bench comprising Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha, Justice Kalhoro recused himself from hearing the plea and referred the matter to the SHC chief justice to fix it before any other bench.

A two-judge SHC bench headed by Justice Kalhoro had dismissed an application of the former information minister seeking bail on medical grounds in May 2018.

The former minister of the Pakistan People Party, who has been in prison since October 2017, had moved an identical application before the Supreme Court and the apex court had also turned down his plea in September last year.

The National Accountability Bureau had filed a reference in 2016 against Mr Memon, some officials of the information department and others for allegedly committing corruption from 2013 to 2015 in awarding advertisements of the provincial government’s awareness campaigns to electronic media that caused a loss of around Rs3.27 billion.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2019