An accountability court in Karachi on Tuesday ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to initiate the process of proclamation and attachment of properties of Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani’s wife and five children and other suspects absconding in a case pertaining to the alleged accumulation of assets worth Rs1.16 billion.

NAB had arrested Durrani, a senior leader of the PPP, in February for investigation into his alleged movable and immovable assets beyond his known sources of income, making 352 illegal appointments, embezzlement of public funds in the construction of the MPA Hostel and the new Sindh Assembly building, as well as the appointment of project directors for these schemes.

On Tuesday, Accountability Court-IV judge Farid Anwar Qazi ordered NAB to initiate the process of proclamation and attachment of properties of 11 suspects, including Durrani’s wife and five children, after the investigating officer declared them as untraceable.

The court has repeatedly issued non-bailable warrants for their arrest, but all of them have failed to turn up to surrender and join the trial.

According to the investigation officer’s report, Durrani’s family members – Naheed Durrani and her daughters Sonya, Shahana and Sara — had left for the United States on March 8 and have not returned to Pakistan as yet.

Similarly, Durrani’s son Agha Shahbaz left for the United Arab Emirates on Feb 18 while his daughter Sanam left for the US on September 2, 2018. Both have not returned to the country.

Five other nominated suspects have also been declared as untraceable.

The anti-corruption watchdog has booked Durrani’s wife, his five children, a younger brother named Agha Masihuddin Khan Durrani, and his alleged frontmen as abettors in the case.