ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday rejected a petition filed by former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari requesting an increase in days on which he can be visited by family members and his legal team.
Filed by Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur, the petition was opposed by the prosecutor of the accountability watchdog.
The National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) lawyer stated that meetings with the former president and his sister could only be held on Mondays.
Earlier, an accountability court had rejected the applications submitted by Zardari and Talpur seeking A-class and extra facilities in jail during judicial remand in the fake accounts case.
Senior PPP leadership, Omni Group’s Anwar Majeed and his son Abdul Ghani Majeed, former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai and Summit Bank Senior Vice-President Taha Raza are among those being investigated in cases related to the fake accounts scandal. The matter is also being heard by the Supreme Court (SC).
The case was transferred to Islamabad after a Karachi banking court accepted NAB’s transfer request filed following the apex court’s judgement forwarding the joint investigation team (JIT) report to the bureau with directions to investigate and file references.
Zardari remained in NAB’s remand till August 16 when the accountability court sent him to judicial remand after NAB prosecutor Muzaffar Abbasi apprised the court of new developments in the case.
Consequently, he was moved to Adiala Jail. Talpur, on the other hand, was shifted from Islamabad’s Polyclinic Hospital to Adiala Jail at midnight on August 12.
On August 19, the defence counsel lamented before the court that his clients were ill-treated in jail.
