ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday fixed Wednesday (tomorrow) for hearing a petition seeking confirmation of the pre-arrest bail of former president Asif Ali Zardari in a case related to a suspicious transaction of Rs8.3 billion from his Bahria Town account.

The court had granted Mr Zardari interim pre-arrest bail on June 18, 2019, in the case.

According to the court’s supplementary cause list, a division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani will hear the petition of Mr Zardari.

Javed Iqbal Wains, one of the counsel for the former president, told Dawn that he had not been informed about fixing of the date about confirmation of the pre-arrest bail plea of Mr Zardari.

He said that he would confirm the date with the relevant court officials on Tuesday.

Zain Malik, the son-in-law of property tycoon Malik Riaz, is one of the accused along with Asif Ali Zardari in the case.

But Zain Malik was recently absolved of this and two other cases and three investigations by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after he entered into a plea bargain with the bureau.

Interestingly, he did not appear in person before the accountability court of judge Mohammad Bashir, but took part in the proceedings through a video link from the UK.

Zain Malik undertook to mortgage his six properties and pay Rs4 billion in one case, Rs170 million in another and Rs37m in the third case to the NAB Rawalpindi Directorate in installments for three years in three months’ interval.

He was accused in the fake bank accounts case relating to Pink Residency, illegal allotment and mega money laundering.

He was also an accused in the Karachi Icon Tower case.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2020