The accountability court hearing fake bank accounts case on Friday rejected the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) request to extend physical remand of Nadeem Bhutto, in-charge of Naudero House Larkana, and sent him to jail on judicial remand.
The NAB officials produced Nadeem Bhutto before accountability court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik on expiry of his remand term. NAB Prosecutor Usman Mirza requested the court to extend physical remand of the accused as investigators want to probe him further.
The NAB also produced other accused of fake bank accounts case including Iqbal Khan Noori, Muhammad Hanif, Saleem Faisal, Farooq Abdullah and Sher Ali on expiry of their judicial remand terms. The court extended their judicial remand for another 14 days.
Meanwhile, the NAB produced Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company's chairperson Khursheed Anwar Jamali, M/s Technomen Kinetics Pvt Ltd CEO Syed Asif Mehmood and Nooriabad Power Company director Syed Arif Ali who were arrested two days ago by NAB in fake accounts case, before accountability court Judge Muhammad Bashir.
The NAB said name of Jamali was included in investigation by the joint investigation team (JIT). However, he was also arrested over corruption charges in Nooriabad Power Plant project. The accused persons have allegedly committed corruption in purchase of machinery for Nooriabad Power Plant Project, the prosecutor told the court.
The Bureau said his name is on the exit control list (ECL). The NAB prosecutor told the court that this is the case of money laundering; therefore, the NAB wants 14 days physical remand for conducting further investigation from them.
The Nooriabad Power Project was launched in 2014 under a public-private partnership at the cost of Rs 13 billion in which the government of Sindh held 49 percent shares and a private company owned 51 percent. Around 95 km-long 132kV double-circuit transmission lines were laid from Nooriabad to Karachi at the cost of Rs 1.95 billion.
The defence counsel objected to the NAB's request and prayed the court to reject its application. The court after hearing arguments of both the parties reserved its order for sometime. Later, the court remanded accused into NAB custody for 10 days.