–Faryal Talpur submits Rs1m surety bond in IHC as court clubs her bail petitions
ISLAMABAD: Former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur appeared before an accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday in the fake accounts case.
The siblings had also filed an application to submit surety bonds, but the court put off proceedings until the next hearing on April 29, given their pre-arrest bail petitions were pending before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
During the hearing, an investigation officer (IO) apprised the judge that he has shifted case records, joint investigation team (JIT) report and the banking court’s previous proceedings, from Karachi to Islamabad on Monday, seeking more time to prepare the paper-book for the accused.
National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi told the court that the applications of two accused who requested to become approvers had been submitted to chairman Javed Iqbal and they were awaiting a decision in this regard.
On April 8, two women named Kiran Aman and Noreen Sultan, nominated in the case, told the court that they are ready to testify as witnesses and had filed an application in this regard.
Additionally, the court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for an absconding accused in the case, Adnan Javed, and sought the travel history for two of the accused — Azam Wazir and Nasir Lootha — who have fled abroad.
An investigative officer informed the court that one of the accused, Iqbal Arain, had died. The judge directed him to produce Arain’s death certificate.
The next hearing of the case is scheduled for April 29.
In the same hearing, Accountability Judge Arshad Malik accepted surety bonds of Rs1 million for property tycoon Malik Riaz’s son-in-law Zain Malik and Shahzad, another accused in the case.
FARYAL GRANTED BAIL:
Separately, a division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted Faryal Talpur pre-arrest interim bail until April 29, in an inquiry initiated against her for allegedly receiving kickbacks in a project between the Zardari Group and Bahria Town.
The bench asked Talpur to submit a surety bond of Rs1 million.
Talpur said that the joint venture was signed between the two private parties and that she had nothing to do with the fake accounts case.
As per the petition, NAB had summoned her on April 17 to record a statement before the JIT probing the fake accounts case in connection to receiving the alleged kickbacks from the joint venture. Additionally, the court decided to club the case with another petition, pending in the IHC, in which Talpur is seeking bail in the fake accounts case. In the future, both cases will be heard together.
