KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday refused to treat a bail petition of former information minister Sharjeel Memon as an urgent matter and said that the appeal would be addressed as per court rules.
The imprisoned PPP leader through his lawyer moved the bail petition seeking bail-after-arrest in a case pertaining to the corruption of Rs5.76 billion in the Sindh information department.
Justice Iqbal Kalhoro, who headed a division bench, declined to entertain the petition on urgent basis and asked the counsel to explain urgency in the matter.
On which, the lawyer said Memon is not well and needed urgent treatment, which was not possible inside prison.
Rejecting his request, the judge directed him to file the petition in court office, which will fix it for hearing as per court rules.
On January 02, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who headed a three-judge bench of the apex court, dismissed the bail appeal of Memon for being infructuous. He asked the counsel to approach the high court concerned for the purpose.
He observed that since the applicant has been arrested, his application seeking bail-before-arrest has been rendered ineffective.
On October 23, Memon was taken into custody along with other suspects from outside the SHC main building after the court revoked their interim bail in a case pertaining to the corruption of Rs5.76 billion in the provincial information department.
Memon is also facing another case which pertained to his alleged role in getting the state land allotted and adjusted in 43 Dehs at throwaway price for a property developer, depriving the public exchequer of billions of rupees in revenue.
Sharjeel Memon, who had returned to Pakistan in March this year after his two-year-long self-imposed exile, is facing several charges of misappropriation and corruption.
A reference filed against him related to the alleged award of government advertisements at exorbitant rates, causing loss of more than Rs five billion to the national exchequer.