ISLAMABAD: Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir presiding over the ongoing fake bank accounts case on Thursday awarded accused Abdul Ghani Majeed an additional remand for 14 days.
Son of business tycoon Anwar Majeed who has been known to be a close and personal friend of the former president Asif Ali Zardari has been named in the case along with 30 plus others, including the former president and his sister Faryal Talpur.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) pursuing the case on behalf of the state against the accused pleaded for an extension in the physical remand of Majeed which was struck down and he was given into judicial remand instead.
Wednesday saw three of the accused agree to plea bargain in the fake bank accounts proceedings of the day.
Three accused, namely Khursheed Anwar Jamali, Arif Ali and Asif Mehmood who are currently under arrest have submitted former pleas requesting plea bargains.
Physical remands of all three individuals has been extended till July 31 by the accountability court.
Judge Bashir who has been presiding over the case proceedings inquired about the status of the plea bargains from the Investigative Office (IO) in charge.
The IO replied that the matter was being considered and worked upon.
The IO also informed the court that 2 of the 3 alleged in the case have had their submissions forwarded to the headquarters for formal approval.
Judge Bashir ordered the National Accountability Bureau Headquarters to take prompt action on the submissions.
The judge also notified that this was the last time that he was giving a physical remand of the three accused to NAB, next time he would only award judicial remands.
Earlier on July 11 hearing for the ongoing fake accounts case continued with Justice Muhammad Bashir presiding over proceedings.
Accused Administrator Karachi, Sajjad Abbasi was brought forth in the court for his hearing after completion of his physical remand.
His physical remand was extended by 7 days by the judge after the hearing was completed.
The law enforcement has been directed to produce Abbasi in the court again after the completion of the extended remand on July 18.
The accused was allegedly involved in illegal allotment of land designated for public and social welfare.
Earlier, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on June 17 took 3 individuals under custody allegedly involved in fake accounts Case.
Those detained by the anti-graft watch dog namely include, Tando Kazim Ali who is being revealed as a finance manager of a sugar mill along with Faisal and AmanUllah.
Embezzlement charges against Kazim revealed that approximately Rs.846 million were embezzled by the accused in collusion with the Omni Group.
Accused Faisal Nadeem has been revealed as the finance manager of Chamber Sugar Mills, sources within NAB confirmed.
Sources further claimed that the accused had acquired 400 million rupees from the Sindh Government through illegal documents.
It was further revealed that Faisal had also taken loans worth billions based on forged and fake documents.
“Faisal Nadeem has harmed the provincial exchequer worth Rs. 27 million,” revealed the source.
AmanUllah has been revealed as the finance manager of Khoski Sugar Mills and was allegedly involved in formation of a fake firm which took 200 million rupee worth of subsidy from the Sindh Government.
Further charges detail that the accused is also a defaulter of Rs.18 million taken under the pretext of helping out poor farmers, sources confided.
The accused was running 9 accounts registered under the names of his servants and made the Sindh Government suffer losses worth Rs.20 million.
All three individuals were arrested under direct orders of Chairman NAB, Javed Iqbal and will be produced in front of the accountability court tomorrow, sources claimed.