SUKKUR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Sukkur, on Tuesday filed a reference in the local accountability court against Aijaz Jakhrani, the chief minister’s adviser on prisons, for having accumulated assets worth Rs735 million since becoming a member of the National Assembly.

Jacobabad Municipal Committee Chairman Abbas Jakhrani, contractor Abdul Razzak Behrani, Zaheer Masih (the ex-MNA’s driver) and a woman, Ms Lubna, were nominated in the reference as alleged accomplices of Aijaz Jakhrani in committing the financial irregularities.

The reference claimed that after becoming MNA, Jakhrani made bank transactions amounting to around Rs500m to purchase 150 acres of land and two bungalows in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area in Karachi.

The Sukkur NAB has already arrested Abbas Jakhrani, Abdul Razzak Behrani and Zaheer Masih whereas Aijaz Jakhrani has obtained his pre-arrest bail from the Sindh High Court.

SHC puts off Khursheed’s bail plea to 21st

The Sindh High Court, Sukkur bench, on Tuesday admitted the bail application of senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Syed Khursheed Shah and fixed the matter for hearing on Jan 21.

Mr Shah is facing charges of misusing his authority while holding the office of a federal minister and rejecting several housing schemes of Islamabad without having such authority. A reference in this regard had been filed in an accountability court by the Rawalpindi NAB.

Mr Shah was arrested in Rawalpindi on Sept 18 last year and eventually moved to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) in Sukkur for treatment.

Mr Shah is still under treatment at the NICVD Sukkur.

In the meantime, his bail application was filed in the Sindh High Court which recently transferred the matter to its Sukkur bench. On Tuesday, Mr Shah’s counsel Advocate Mukesh Kumar Karira appeared before the bench, which admitted the application as maintainable and fixed the hearing for Jan 21.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2020