KARACHI: An accountability court issued on Saturday non-bailable arrest warrants for 12 absconding suspects, including family members of Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, in a reference pertaining to allegedly accumulating assets worth over Rs1.61 billion through unlawful means.

Mr Durrani, a senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in an Islamabad hotel on Feb 20 for investigation into his alleged movable and immovable assets beyond his known sources 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 the appointment of project directors for these schemes.

On Saturday, the matter came up for hearing by accountability court-IV judge Farid Anwar Qazi when Speaker Durrani was produced in court from prison.

Seven other suspects — Tufail Ahmed Sheikh, Mitha Khan, Gulzar Ahmed, Shamshad Khatoon, Agha Masihuddin Khan Durrani and Zulfiqar Ali Dahar — appeared on bail.

‘Accused persons have absconded out of the country to the United States of America’

However, Mr Durrani’s wife, his four daughters, a son and other suspects did not turn up.

The judge inquired from NAB investigating officer Asif Raza about the completion of the process against the alleged absconders.

Special public prosecutor Shahbaz Sahotra filed a compliance report stating that the notices issued by the IO to Mr Durrani’s family members were received by a guard, Dur Mohammad, posted at their residence in Phase-V of the Defence Housing Authority.

“However, it has been learnt that [the] accused persons have absconded out of the country to the United States of America,” said the report.

It mentioned that the travel history obtained from the Federal Investigation Agency showed that Mr Durrani’s wife Naheed and daughters — Sonya, Shahana and Sara — had departed for the US through Jinnah International Airport on March 8 and had not returned to Pakistan.

It further stated that Mr Durrani’s son Agha Shahbaz had left for the United Arab Emirates on Feb 18 while his daughter Sanam left for the US on Sept 2, 2018.

The report said that another suspect, Mohammad Irfan, also left for the UAE on May 18, 2018, but did not return. The remaining suspects, including Syed Mohammad Shah, Gulbahar Lohar Baloch, Shakeel Ahmed Soomro, Ghulam Murtaza and Munawwar Ali could not be approached as they had gone into hiding to avoid arrest, it added.

After examining the report, the judge issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of the 12 alleged absconding suspects and directed the IO to arrest and produce them before the court on the next date of hearing.

The court also ordered that the computerised national identity cards of all the absconders be blocked and told the IO to submit a compliance report on Oct 22.

The anti-corruption watchdog has booked Mr Durrani’s wife, his five children, a younger brother, Agha Masihuddin Khan Durrani, and his alleged frontmen and abettors.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2019