Islamabad, Aug 19 (UNI) In a major relief to former president and Pakistan People Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Islamabad High Court (IHC) has granted protective bail in a money laundering case.
Mr Zardari was issued arrest warrants by a banking court on Wednesday.
According to a report published in Dawn on Sunday, IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb on Saturday accepted the plea seeking protective/transitory bail to the former president in the case registered with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
As per the FIA, 29 accounts were opened in the name of seven people. They said that 18 to 19 of the ‘fake’ accounts were opened in the Summit Bank alone.
The FIR registered against Lawai Summit Bank vice chairman Hussain Lawai said billions of rupees were deposited into the said fake accounts and subsequently transferred to different accounts, including that of Zardari and his sister Talpur’s company - Zardari Group - which is shown to have received Rs 15 million.
In his petition, the former claimed that FIA director general Bashir Ahmed Memon, whose brother had contested the General Election last month on a ticket of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) — an anti-PPP alliance in Sindh — and FIA’s additional director general Najaf Mirza against whom the petitioner had lodged an FIR in 2005 for a murder assault dragged him in the controversial case despite the fact that his name was not among those nominated in the FIR.
Mr Zardari’s sister MPA Talpur had been granted bail by a lower court against a surety bond of Rs2 million and submission of her passport.
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