NewsOctober 23 , 2017
Sharjeel Memon arrested from SHC over corruption charges
KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday arrested former provincial minister Sharjeel Memon as he came out from the Sindh High Court (SHC) premises after his bail pleas was rejected.The former minister remained inside the court for over five hours to avoid arrest in a graft case.
SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh, hearing the Rs5.76 billion corruption case pertaining to alleged awarding of advertisements at exorbitant rates, rejected the pleas of the PPP leader and 11 other accused seeking extension in their bails in the case.
Later, Sharjeel Memon, who was escorted by lawyers to courtroom of the SHC Chief Justice to protect him from possible arrest, applied for a transitory bail, saying he will challenge the today's decision in the Supreme Court.
His lawyer pleaded that until then, NAB should be restrained from arresting Memon.
However, the SHC Chief Justice refused to entertain Memon's plea and returned it to his counsel.
A NAB team was already present outside the court to arrest the former Sindh minister.
Memon, who returned to Pakistan in March this year after ending his near two-year-long self-imposed exile, was arrested on his arrival by NAB but later obtained bail.
Later, in a statement NAB said that 12 persons including Sharjeel Memon who were wanted in Reference No. 50/2016 will be produced before the accountability court on Tuesday.
The accused persons have been alleged for awarding the contracts to favour certain advertising agencies and to their own favour, in violation of relevant laws and rules and against exorbitant rates, it added.
Those arrested include Sharjeel Inam Memon (Ex-Minister Information & Archives Department); Zulifqar Ali Shalwani (The then Secretary Information & Archives Department); Mansoor Ahmed Rajput (then Deputy Director Information (Advertisement) Information & Archives Department; Sarang Latif Chandio (The then Information Officer, Information & Archives Department); Altaf Hussain Memon (The then Section Officer (G) Information & Archives Department); Asim Amir Khan Sikandar (Senior Executive Director M/s Evernew Concepts Pvt.Ltd.); Masood Hashmi (CEO M/s. Orient Communication Pvt. Ltd.); Gulzar Ali (Director of M/s Adarts Karachi Pvt. Ltd.); Salman Mansoor (Director of M/s Adarts Karachi Pvt. Ltd.); Umar Shahzad (Proprietor of Daily Milan); Syed Naveed (Proprietor of M/s Media Power Link); and Muhammad Hanif (Company Secretary M/s Evernew Concepts Pvt. Ltd).
Following the arrest, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan said the arrest was a "voice of people's heart".
"Asif Zardari is the head of mafia in Sindh and Faryal Talpur is his partner in crime," Khan said.
Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk
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