KARACHI, April 5: A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday asked former MNA Begum Salma Ahmed and the National Accountability Bureau to respectively submit details of expenditure (by the former) and misuse (as alleged by the latter) of Rs13.3 million advanced as loan by the Export Promotion Bureau for establishment of a fashion design centre at Clifton. The petition, moved by the ex-MNA’s brother through Advocate Rasheed A. Razvi, was adjourned till April 13 as ‘part heard’ for submission of accounts. The accused would remain admitted to hospital in the meanwhile. The bench consisted of Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Azizullah Memon.

The NAB alleges that according to a complaint lodged with it by the EPB, the accused has misappropriated the amount. The ex-MNA says she had raised a structure for the proposed centre on an amenity plot, but it was partially demolished for alleged violations. The project could not be completed.

Advocate Razvi argued that the reference filed by the NAB blandly asserted that the (entire) amount was misappropriated without giving details. The bench asked the petitioner for details of expenditure and the NAB for details of misappropriation.

BAIL DECLINED: Justice Syed Zawwar Hussain Jaffery refused bail to Farooq Mengal, who is being tried for the murder of his wife, Afireen Beg.

The accused submitted through Advocate Azizullah Shaikh that he had been implicated only on a confessional statement made by his driver, Mohammad Bakhsh. There was no other evidence against him.

He said he had made three phone calls from Lahore on the day of the occurrence, and had asked his employee to break open her apartment when there was no response. The employee, Nauman, had found her dead.

Opposing the bail, special prosecutor M. Ilyas Khan submitted that there was sufficient evidence to connect the accused with the commission of the offence, and that his bail plea was rightly dismissed by the session court trying the murder case.

Rejecting the plea, the court, however, allowed him to seek bail from the trial court again within a month of the examination of the judicial magistrate.