Daily Times

Former president Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have written a letter to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) requesting more time to submit their response in the fake bank accounts case, a private TV channel reported on Sunday.

The letter seeks two-week time to submit reply to a questionnaire handed over to the PPP leaders during their appearance before the graft watchdog last month. The father-son duo has requested the bureau to allow them until April 17 to submit their response.

The bureau is yet to decide whether or not Zardari will be given an extension to submit the reply, the report said.

On April 4, NAB filed the first interim reference in the fake bank accounts case, nominating nine accused for misuse of authority and illegal allotment of amenity plots in Karachi. The NAB prosecutors submitted the reference to an accountability court in Islamabad. The accused included eight senior government officials and director of a private company.

The suspects nominated in the reference include former administrator of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Mohammad Hussain Syed and former metropolitan commissioners Matanat Ali Khan and Samiuddin Siddique. Others nominated in the reference include Syed Khalid Zafar Hashmi, Najamuz Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Abdul Ghani and Younus Kudwavi.

The reference maintained that the accused allotted plots that were earmarked for welfare purposes illegally, causing huge losses to the exchequer. Solid evidence against the suspects was available with NAB so the court should punish the accused under NAB ordinance, the reference prayed.