HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Accountability Court Judge, Inam Ali Kalhoro, on Monday granted interim pre-arrest bail to Sindh chief minister’s private secretary Mohammad Saleem Bajari in reference pertaining to alleged illegal appointments, accumulation of assets and tampering with evidence filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Mr Bajari sought bail in the wake of a call-up notice issued to him by NAB in the ongoing inquiry into the matter.

His counsel Advocate Ishrat Lohar submitted in court that his client was innocent and the allegations levelled against him in the call-up notice dated Jan 25 were false, fabricated and aimed at harassing him with ulterior motives.

He informed the court that prior to the call-up notice, an inquiry in respect of the same set of allegations was conducted and later closed with remarks “No Further Action” (NFA) vide a report dated Sept 11, 2019 submitted by Syeda Rumla Naqvi, the deputy director (coord) I.O, NAB Karachi. Hence, the instant inquiry/case falls within the ambit of double jeopardy under Article 13-A of the Constitution and Section 403 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), according to the lawyer.

He argued that the applicant apprehended his arrest and humiliation at the hands of NAB with ulterior motive.

He stated that NAB had received a complaint against his client on May 24, 2018 regarding illegal appointments in the treasury offices of Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Tando Mohammad Khan and Matiari and accumulation of assets. He further stated that such complaint was received in the wake of an inquiry over identical allegations. The inquiry was finally closed, he added.

The counsel said that his client being a government servant always declared his assets in his tax returns and there had been no default. He argued that in response to the call-up notice, his client submitted his reply which showed that he had already joined the inquiry thus question of tampering with evidence did not rise. He said that relevant documents were already with the NAB authorities, therefore, the case of his client fell within the ambit of further inquiry.

The judge, without touching merits of the instant case/inquiry, granted interim pre-arrest bail to Saleem Bajari subject to furnishing of a solvent surety in a sum of Rs500,000 with personal surety bond in the like amount to the satisfaction of this court.

The court directed the applicant to appear before NAB investigating officer (IO) as and when required. It also issued notices to the NAB special prosecutor and IO with directives to produce the inquiry report. The matter was put off to Feb 21.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2022