ISLAMABAD: Aftab Memon, a former secretary of Land Utilisation Department, Sindh Board of Revenue, was granted post-arrest bail on Friday after two years of detention in the fake bank accounts case.

An Islamabad High Court division bench, headed by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, granted post-arrest bail to Mr Memon against Rs1 million surety bonds.

Mr Memon has been facing charges of misuse of authority and making illegal allotment of land.

He was arrested in March 2019 for an investigation into alleged misuse of his authority. He is suspected of having illegally allotted government land to M/S Pink Residency and others.

According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Mr Memon, in connivance with other members of the Sindh Government Lands Committee, was suspected to be involved in offences that fall under Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance, 1999 (corruption and corrupt practices).

Aftab is accused of involvement in illegal allotment of govt land in Karachi

NAB had filed the Pink Residency reference against some senior serving and retired officials of the Sindh Board of Revenue.

The accused, including Aftab Memon and Omni Group’s Abdul Ghani Majeed, were indicted in the reference in October last year.

The reference alleges that the accused illegally regularised two plots of land measuring 23 acres and seven acres in Karachi, causing a loss of Rs4 billion to the exchequer.

Meanwhile, NAB filed a written reply before the IHC on the bail plea of Zardari House in-charge Amjad Akhlaq opposing grant of pre- arrest bail to him.

The bureau claimed that it had ample evidence to prove that the accused had facilitated former president Asif Ali Zardari in operating fake bank accounts.

The bureau requested the court to dismiss Akhlaq’s bail application.

Earlier on March 8, Mr Akhlaq had challenged the call-up notice issued to him by NAB. He stated in his petition that the call-up notice issued on Feb 17 by NAB was illegal and sought pre-arrest bail from the court.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2021