KARACHI: The Sindh High Court granted on Friday interim pre-arrest bail to the secretary local government in an inquiry into alleged corruption in the LG department.

Ramzan Awan through his lawyer moved a bail application and expressed the apprehension that he might be arrested by the National Accountability Bureau and contended that NAB officials were “harassing and summoning him” despite an earlier court order.

After a preliminary hearing, the two-judge SHC bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro granted interim bail against a surety bond of Rs1 million till June 18 and also issued notice to NAB for next hearing.

NAB had arrested Moha­mmad Ramzan Solangi, personal secretary to the secretary for local government Sindh, in his office at the Sindh Secretariat on April 18 on the allegation of corruption and the detained official reportedly made startling revelations depicting whopping corruption in the LG department by various officers.

Meanwhile, the same bench dismissed on Friday a post-arrest bail application of former secretary of transport Iqbal Bablani in a corruption reference.

NAB had arrested the former secretary after the SHC dismissed his pre-arrest bail in 2016.

The bureau had filed a reference against Bablani alleging he was involved in corruption in awarding contracts during his tenure as secretary of the provincial transport department causing losses worth millions to the national exchequer.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2018