Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted pre-arrest interim bail to former Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah in a fake accounts case.

A two-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiani, took up the petition of the former chief minister.

Amid fear of detainment in mega money laundering case, a petition was filed on Monday by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senior leader in IHC seeking pre-arrest bail in the multi-billion corruption case.

The petition stated that Shah is 85-years-old and is entitled to pre-arrest bail due to his age. It further maintained that the former CM has no connection with money laundering and his name was included in the case on political basis.

The former chief minister was named in a report by the joint investigation team tasked to probe the fake accounts case involving PPP chairman Asif Ali Zaradi and others. Shah was among 172 people named in the report whose names were to be placed on the no-fly list.

Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and other accused, including PPP leaders and several businessmen, are facing an inquiry into the money laundering scam involving over Rs 35 billion money laundered through fake bank accounts.

A few days ago, the top court had also instructed Shah to cooperate with NAB in a land allotment case against him. He was questioned about the land he had allegedly allotted to Bahria Town even though he did not hold any power in this regard.

In response, the former chief minister had told the court that he believed NAB was out to get him. He said that he had nothing to do with the illegal allotment case.