The Accountability Court hearing multibillion rupees fake bank accounts case on Wednesday deferred indictment of former president Asif Ali Zardari and other accused in the Park Lane case till February 11.
The Accountability Court Judge Azam Khan while hearing the case deferred indictment of the accused and also inquired about accused Anwar Majid. Majid's counsel told the court that his client is admitted in a hospital in Karachi and he has submitted his medical report before the court.
The NAB filed the 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). The NAB prosecutor told the court that NAB has filed reference against the accused and, therefore, they should be indicted. Objecting to the NAB's request, Zardari's counsel Farooq H Naek said that charges cannot be framed over interim reference. The NAB prosecutor replied that a law to indict accused over interim reference exists. He explained that NAB has filed reference after completion of investigation of the nominated accused.
The judge asked if the accused will be charged again when the NAB files supplementary reference. "If something new emerges in the investigations, we file supplementary references," the NAB investigation officer (IO) told the court. He said that investigation against the suspect is underway and supplementary reference will be filed if any new evidence is found against them.
The court while hearing the mega money laundering case against Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and other accused adjourned hearing till February 11. Zardari, Talpur, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Adeel Rasheed and other accused appeared before the court. Zardari is one of the main accused in both the cases and he was granted bail by Islamabad High Court (IHC) on December 10 on medical grounds. Zardari did not appear before the court due to his poor health. At the start of hearing, Zardari's counsel filed an application seeking personal exemption of his client before the court and the court approved the same. Naek told the court that the accused has so far not been provided with copies of supplementary reference.
On this, the court ordered to provide copies of supplementary reference to all the accused.
The NAB prosecutor told the court that NAB did not have facility of air ambulance. The NAB Rawalpindi has written a letter to NAB headquarter for air ambulance, he said. He said that non-bailable arrest warrants for four accused of the mega money laundering case including Haji Haroon, Azam Wazir, M Younas Kudwavi and Mushtaq Mehar have been issued, adding they are hiding abroad.
The judge asked about the status of plea bargain of accused Zain Malik. The IO told the court that the application of Mailk is pending before the relevant authority. He told the court that NAB has summoned Malik with respect to his plea bargain. A progress report will be submitted before the court regarding Malik's plea bargain during the next hearing.
In the supplementary reference regarding mega money laundering case NAB has nominated Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Hussain Lawai, Anwar Majid, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Taha Raza, Arif Khan, Muhammad Umair, Syed Hussain Failsal Shah Jamote, Azam Wazir Khan, Nimr Majid, Mustafa Z Majid, Ali Kemal Malik, M Younas Kudwavi, Zain Malik, Haji Haroon, Kh Muhammad Salman Younus, Pir Darvesh Khan, Imran Khan, Muhammad Aurangzeb and Bilal Shaikh.
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.
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