Former President Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and others appeared before an Accountability Court on Monday in connection with the fake bank accounts case amid tight security arrangements. During the course of hearing, Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik marked the attendance of Zardari, Talpur and others before he adjourned the hearing till April 16.
At the start of the hearing, two accused, Kiran Aman and Noreen Sultan told the court that they are ready to testify as witnesses and informed the court they had filed an application in this regard before Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) former Justice Javed Iqbal.
When the judge sought the point of view of NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi, the latter told the court that he would check whether or not these women had filed any request before the NAB chairman. The court directed these women to submit their written pleas before it.
There are a total of 30 accused including Zardari, Talpur, Hussain Lawai, Taha Raza, Anwar Majeed, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Noreen Sultan, Kiran Aman, Adeel Shah Rashidi, Muhammad Ashraf, Qasim Ali, Shahzad Ali, Sher Muhammad, Zain Malik, Iqbal Khan Noori, Nimr Majeed, Mustafa Zulqarnain, Aslam Masood, Muhammad Arif Khan, Nassar Abdullah, Adnan Javeed, Muhammad Umair, Iqbal Arian, Azam Wazir Khan, Christopher D Craz, Muhammad Nasir Sheikh, Ghanzanfar Ahsan, Sawoodi Morkas, Muhammad Raheel Mobin, and Ali Kamal Majeed.
Zardari came to the rostrum and signed the attendance document. The Counsel for Zardari and Talpur, Farooq H Naek, requested the court if it grants the former president and his sister complete exemption from personal appearance, it would not only help ensure smooth trial in the case but heavy contingents of police deployed in and around the court would also be able to perform duties in other areas. He requested the court to bind him in this regard and he will appear regularly before it.
However, the court directed Zardari and his sister to ensure their appearance on the next hearing. While referring to strict security arrangements, Latif Khosa, who is also representing PPP leaders, said how they can assist the Accountability Court when it is under "siege". The judge said that the courtroom is very small; therefore, the court will soon prepare a mechanism to ensure smooth proceedings.
During the course of hearing, Naek and the counsels of other accused told the court that the case should be treated as the NAB reference and under the law, the National Accountability Bureau cannot file supplementary reference in the same case.
While objecting to the defence counsel's plea, the NAB deputy prosecutor general said that the investigation of the case is under way and the NAB can file supplementary reference. Muhammad Ali Abro, the investigation officer and official of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), informed the court that he has been attached with the NAB and the concerned authority has authorised investigation to him. The number of accused persons in the fake account case has reached 30, of whom eight have appeared before the court while six are under custody who will be produced by the NAB, he said, adding that some of the accused are still under investigation. He assured the court that probe will be completed soon.
Before the start of hearing, when Zardari was asked by a media person how he felt while appearing in an accountability court after so long, he replied that it is the same place from where he had passed by before.
When Zardari was asked where he would go from here, he said, "We will go from here [to a place] where we had gone before." The fake bank accounts case was transferred from the banking court following the request of the NAB.
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