The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday granted post-arrest bail to Bilal Sheikh, former president of Sindh Bank, in the fake bank accounts case. A division bench of IHC headed by Justice Aamer Farooq heard Bilal Sheikh's bail application in the fake bank accounts reference and granted him post-arrest bail against surety bonds, worth Rs10 million.
Sheikh is an accused of giving a loan of Rs 50 billion to the Omni Group. He was believed to be the mastermind behind the fake accounts and money laundering cases. During the previous hearing, prosecutor of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) argued in the court that the presidential ordinance was not meant for giving relief to the accused of the pending cases.
He said NAB had circulated a letter to all prosecutors as well as its regional directorates which stated that "under-process cases authorized before the promulgation of the ordinance of 2019 will remain intact till their logical conclusion as the subject ordinance has no retrospective effect."
The NAB investigated Bilal Sheikh about the allegations of giving loans to Omni Group during his tenure. It was alleged that Sindh Bank had given billion of rupees loan to Omni Group on the desire of former president Asif Ali Zardari. The NAB had also sought the details of Bilal Sheikh's accounts details from State Bank of Pakistan.
In the last hearing (December 9), the NAB said it has filed eight references in the fake bank accounts case in accountability court. The NAB has been conducting investigations in fake accounts in pursuance of the Supreme Court's verdict wherein the court forwarded the joint investigation team (JIT) report with the directions to investigate and file references.
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