KARACHI, May 25: A division bench of Sindh High Court consisting of Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rehmat Hussain Jaffri allowed interim bail before arrest till June 1 to Nazeer Soomro, a grade-19 officer of the Sindh Workers Welfare Board, being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau for possessing assets far in excess of his known sources of income.

His counsel, Aamir Raza Naqvi said that his client was being investigated since 2003 but no reference had been filed against him so far.

He earned about Rs5 million in remunerations in 30 years of his service in different capacities and his assets did not amount to more than Rs1 million. His assets were fully accounted for by his income and he could not be said to have amassed wealth beyond his resources. The bench granted him interim bail in a sum of Rs500,000.

Nazir Soomro’s brother, Waheed Murad, was also admitted to interim bail before arrest in a sum of Rs500,000. He said he was being investigated for holding the property illegally acquired by his brother. He said he was not a ‘benami’ holder of his brother’s assets but had, as a businessman, had his own independent sources of income. All the property possessed by him was his own and did not belong to his brother.

S.M. Wasim, who is facing trial in a reference pending before an accountability court, said he served the United Bank as a storekeeper.