KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has granted two-week protective bail to former federal minister Babar Ghauri in a corruption reference and a money laundering & terror financing case.

The former shipping minister, who is returning to Pakistan after almost seven years, through his attorney moved the SHC and submitted that he was presently abroad and willing to come back and surrender before trial courts.

While referring to ticket reservation, the lawyer for petitioner argued that Mr Ghauri was scheduled to return home on Thursday, and pleaded for protective/transitory bail.

Without touching merits of the cases, a division bench of the high court granted him protective bail for 14 days against a surety bond of Rs100,000 in each case and directed him to surrender before the trial courts on or before July 5.

The former shipping minister, along with MQM founder and other party leaders, had been booked by the Federal Investigation Agency in 2017 in a money laundering and terror financing case.

The National Accountability Bureau had also filed a reference before an accountability court in 2018 against the petitioner and others for alleged illegal regularisation of 940 employees of the Karachi Port Trust causing losses to the tune of Rs2.8 billion to the national exchequer.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2022