KARACHI: An accountability court on Tuesday directed an investigating officer to complete, by Jan 15, 2020, the process of proclamation and attachment of properties of 11 absconding suspects, including Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani’s wife and five children, in a case pertaining to alleged unlawful accumulation of assets worth Rs1.16 billion.

Mr Durrani, a senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, was arrested by the federal anti-graft watchdog 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 construction of MPA Hostel and the new Sindh Assembly building, as well as appointment of project directors for these schemes.

On Tuesday, the matter came up before the accountability court-IV judge Farid Anwar Qazi when Mr Durrani appeared before the court on bail along with other suspects, including Tufail Ahmed Sheikh, Mitha Khan, Gulzar Ahmed, Shamshad Khatoon, Agha Masihuddin Khan Durrani and Zulfiqar Ali Dahar.

The IO informed the court that the process of proclamation and attachment of properties of some 11 alleged absconding suspects, including Mr Durrani’s wife and five children, had been initiated under Sections 87 (proclamation of person absconding) and 88 (attachment of properties of person absconding) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

He requested for time to complete the same and furnish a compliance report.

The judge allowed time, till Jan 15, 2020, directing the IO to submit compliance report on the next date.

Earlier, the IO had declared 11 nominated alleged absconding suspects untraceable.

Ms Naheed Durrani and her daughters — Sonya, Shahana and Sara — had allegedly departed for the US through the Jinnah International Airport on March 8 and had not returned to Pakistan, according to the travel history of the Federal Investigation Agency’s report.

It further stated that Mr Durrani’s son Agha Shahbaz left for the United Arab Emirates on Feb 18 while his daughter Sanam left for the US on Sept 2, 2018, adding that both had not returned yet.

It also mentioned that another suspect, Mohammad Irfan, also left for the UAE on May 18, 2018, but did not return.

Other absconding suspects included Syed Mohammad Shah, Gulbahar Lohar Baloch, Shakeel Ahmed Soomro, Ghulam Murtaza and Munawwar Ali.

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

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2019