Money laundering case: Judicial remand of Faryal Talpur, others extended till January 7

The Accountability Court hearing multibillion rupees fake bank accounts case on Tuesday extended judicial remand of MPA Faryal Talpur and others till January 7 in the mega money laundering case.

Talpur and other accused were produced before Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Azam Khan from Adiala Jail on expiry of their judicial remand in the mega money laundering and Park Lane reference. The NAB officials requested the court to extend judicial remand of the accused persons.

Former president Zardari is also one of the main accused in the same case and he was granted bail by Islamabad High Court (IHC) on December 10 on medical grounds. Zardari was due to appear before the court on Tuesday but he did not appear before the court due to his poor health. At the start of hearing, Zardari's counsel Farooq H Naek filed an application seeking exemption for his client from personal appearance before the court on medical grounds.

Naek produced medical report of Zardari before the court. Doctors have warned his client not to travel until his health condition is stable, he said.

The court approved Zardari's application for one day exemption from personal appearance before it.

The NAB prosecutor told the court that copies of supplementary reference will be produced to the accused by Wednesday (today). He further told the court that the accused Azam Wazir is abroad and application for issuing his non-bailabl arrest warrants has already been filed.

The prosecutor also requested the court to indict all the accused including Zardari. He said that one of the accused has filed an application for plea bargain and that is under process.

The court marked the attendance of the accused and ordered that each accused should furnish surety bond of Rs 1,000,000 for ensuring their attendance in the court.

The NAB has nominated Zardari, Talpur, Hussain Lawai, Anwar Majeed, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Taha Raza, Arif Khan, Muhammad Umair, Syed Hussain Failsal Shah Jamote, Azam Wazir Khan, Nimr Majid, Mustafa Z Majid, Ali Kamal Majeed, M Younas Kudwavi, Zain Malik, Haji Haroon, Kh Muhammad Salman Younus, Pir Darvesh Khan, Imran Khan, Muhammad Aurangzeb and Bilal Shaikh as accused in the supplementary reference.

In the interim reference, the NAB has a total of 30 accused including Asif Ali Zardari, Faryal 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 NAB had filed Park Lane reference against Zardari and 16 other accused on August 19 before the court. The other accused included Hussain Lawai, former president Arif Habib Bank and Summit Bank (arrested), Abdul Ghani Majeed, owner of different companies of Omni Group (arrested), Aslam Masood, chief financial officer/general manager finance in different companies of Omni Group (arrested), Khawaja Anwer Majid, owner of different companies of Omni Group (under judicial custody), Taha Raza, relationship manager at Arif Habib Bank (arrested), Farooq Abdullah, area/branch manager HBL (arrested), Sher Ali, operation manger HBL (arrested), Uzair Naeem, former AVP Summit Bank, M/s Tracom Private Limited through its GM, and Muhammad Saleem Faisal, general manager M/s Tracom Private Limited (arrested).