Reacting to the demand of medical facilities by an accused, Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik Thursday said in a lighter vein that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) headquarters should be shifted to a hospital premises. During the hearing of multibillion rupees fake bank accounts case, the counsel for accused Abdul Ghani Majeed, son of Chairman Omni Group Anwar Majeed, told the court that his client had been taken into custody by the NAB at a hospital; therefore, he should be provided medical facilities.
To this, the judge remarked that the issue of providing medical facilities to the accused persons can be resolved if the NAB headquarters is shifted to a hospital.
The judge further said if somebody locks himself in a room for two days, one doesn't feel unwell but if one finds that the door has been locked from outside by someone then one's condition starts deteriorating. He said that in this case the suspects fall ill after after they are arrested.
Earlier, the NAB officials produced former President Asif Ali Zardari and others in the fake accounts case before the Accountability Court amid tight security arrangements.
Following the remarks of the judge, Zardari came to the rostrum and told the court, "We are not so weak, Sahib. I am not afraid of jail as I spent 13 years in solitary confinement. By the grace of God, nothing happened to me." The judge replied that all the people are not alike as some even fight with a lion while some get frightened by a small animal.
To this, Zardari said a prime minister is even scared of a lizard. The judge replied: "No comments." When Zardari was asked outside the court after the hearing which prime minister is scared of a lizard, he said if the incumbent prime minister is imprisoned in a police station and a lizard is put in that room "then you would see that he will start behaving well."
When the judge inquired about shifting of accused Anwar Majeed, Zardari said that Majeed is an aged person and 70 percent of his heart is not functioning. "The NAB officials have taken him into custody at a hospital but when his condition deteriorated at airport, he was taken back to that hospital while his son was arrested," he said.
At the start of the hearing, Zardari while objecting to handcuffing of three suspects told the court that these are educated boys and government officials, and why they have been handcuffed. The case against them is related to white-collar crime, he said, adding that they are neither dacoits nor anti-state elements. He said whatever the court decides about the case, the NAB should treat them better.
The judge inquired whether the suspects had been handcuffed by NAB officials. He was informed by NAB officials that the suspects were brought to the court from jail by police and that NAB had not handcuffed them. The judge said that the jail authorities might have handcuffed them as per jail manual.
On this defence counsel Farooq H Naek said, "jail manual is executed inside jail and now these accused are in your custody." The accused Nimr Majeed, Zulqarnain and Ali Kamal Majeed filed acquittal applications through their counsel. The counsel while arguing before the court said that they have nothing to do with this case. The counsel further said, "We have also attached order of high court with the applications, which also states that these accused have nothing to do with this case."
The judge asked the prosecution about its stance on the acquittal applications. The NAB prosecutor requested the court to grant him time for submitting his arguments about these applications.
The court asked the NAB to provide copies of reference to the accused before the next hearing. After the distribution of copies of reference, the court will indict the accused on the next hearing.
There are a total of 30 accused including Zardari, Talpur, Hussain Lawai, Taha Raza, Anwar Majeed, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Noreen Sultan, Kiran Aman, Adeel Shah Rashidi, Muhammad Ashraf, Qasim Ali, Shahzad Ali, Sher Muhammad, Zain Malik, Iqbal Khan Noori, Nimr Majeed, Mustafa Zulqarnain, Aslam Masood, Muhammad Arif Khan, Nassar Abdullah, Adnan Javed, Muhammad Umair, Iqbal Arian, Azam Wazir Khan, Christopher D Craz, Muhammad Nasir Sheikh, Ghanzanfar Ahsan, Sawoodi Morkas, Muhammad Raheel Mobin, and Ali Kamal Majeed. The court marked attendance of accused persons and adjourned hearing till July 8.
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