Talpur's bank accounts case: Court reserves judgment till March 20

The Accountability Court hearing multi-billion-rupee fake bank accounts case on Tuesday fixed March 20th for announcement of its reserved judgment with respect to former president Asif Ali Zardari's sister Faryal Talpur's plea to unfreeze her bank accounts.

Accountability Court judge Muhammad Azam Khan, while hearing the case regarding unfreezing of Talpur's bank accounts reserved its judgment till March 20th. During the previous hearing, Talpur submitted her sources of income before the court following court orders.

The court sought the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)'s reply over Talpur's application. The NAB submitted its reply with respect to Talpur's application requesting to unfreeze her banks accounts frozen by the anti-graft body. The NAB prosecutor, while objecting to Talpur's request pleaded before the court that Talpur's application did not fulfill merit therefore it should be rejected.

"The grounds that were presented by the accused that she is facing difficulties in fulfilling her domestic expenses is not justified as the accused has also own other accounts," he said. He said that Talpur was the director and signatory of Zardari group of companies.

Transactions have taken place from fake accounts into the accounts of Zardari group of companies, he said. The NAB prosecutor said that caution had earlier been imposed over the accounts before shifting of case from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to the NAB.

Talpur's counsel Farooq H Naek told the court that his client had not requested to unfreeze the accounts of Zardari Group of Companies and filed the application to unfreeze her personal accounts.

Naek further argued before the court that Talpur was facing difficulties in payment of her children's school fees. "The NAB should not commit such an injustice and read Islamabad High Court (IHC)'s decision," he said.He said that the NAB should tell the court that what kind of money came in to the personal accounts of Talpur. The court after hearing arguments reserved its decision over Talpur's application and fixed March 20th for the announcement of its verdict.