Court grants Zardari, Talpur another extension in their pre-arrest bail

A banking court extended on Thursday the interim pre-arrest bail of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur till March 5 in the money laundering case.

As the interim pre-arrest bail granted to them earlier expired today, the siblings appeared before the court along with Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed, his son Abdul Ghani Majeed, former Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) chairman Hussain Lawai and others accused in the fake accounts case.

During the hearing today, the court asked the investigation officer Mohammad Ali Abro whether there was any progress in the investigation regarding the fake accounts case. Abro replied that as per the Supreme Court's orders, the case was being transferred to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further investigation.

His statement was opposed by Zardari's lawyer Farooq H Naek, who said that the top court had only directed that the case be investigated further, and not the case being handed over to NAB. Zardari's lawyer requested the court to extend this clients bail. The Federal Investigation Agency prosecutor argued that there was no justification to hear the suspects’ bail petitions, local media reported.

However, the court accepted the siblings' bail request and extended Asif's and Talpur's bail till March 5. Similarly, the court has also extended the bail of Anwar and his son Abdul Ghani till February 20.