The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday suspended five-year term given to Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Ali Nawaz Shah by accountability court, and bailed him out in a graft case. The High Court approved bail plea of Ali Nawaz Shah who was sentenced along with his nephew and cousin by an accountability court in an embezzlement case of millions of rupees.
Sitting Sindh assembly member of PPP Ali Nawaz Shah, his nephew Syed Imtiyaz Shah and Cousin Syed Khadim reached the SHC and challenged National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Court's verdict of sentencing them to jail in a fraud case. The applicants' counsel argued that allegations levelled against them do not come within the ambit of NAB court and all the charges are politically motivated. Their counsel requested the SHC to suspend the trial court's order as they have nothing to do with any corruption or embezzlement.
After hearing the argument SHC suspended NAB court's order and approved the bail plea of aforementioned against the surety bonds of Rs 500,000 for each. NAB court on 10th September had sentenced aforementioned after founding them guilty of causing loss of millions of rupees to national exchequer by drawing funds for fake land acquisition. The prosecution had alleged that they were involved in making bogus B-form to get compensation.
Earlier the NAB Court awarded a five year term to Ali Nawaz Shah while Syed Imtiyaz Shah and Syed Khadim got three and four years jail term respectively. The trial court ordered trio to pay Rs 560,000, Rs 430,000 and Rs 540,000 respectively for their involvement in embezzlement case.