Daily Times

Zain Malik, the son-in-law of Malik Riaz was granted pre-arrest bail for duration of one week, by the Lahore High Court on Tuesday.

A reference has been filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in fake accounts case this Monday.

Azhar Siddique, the Lawyer of Zain Malik represented him in court. He said that court has opened a number of inquiries against the petitioner.

In his petition, Zain Malik stated that he will go to the relevant forums to defend his case.”I fear that NAB will arrest me and thus a pre-arrest bail should be provided,” he said.

A two judge bench of the Lahore High Court heard the petition of pre-arrest bail in supervision of Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed.

An investigation had started against public office holders, legal persons and others who were involved allegedly in fake bank accounts case. They were involved in case because of misuse of their authority such as allotment or regularisation of government land in favour of M/S Pink Residency and others.

The persons mentioned in reference are blamed for losing Rs205 billion to the National Exchequer in a result of misuse of their authority.

NAB Rawalpindi also restricted authorities for allotment of more than 30 acres land which is worth Rs 2.5 billion.

The court restricted NAB from arresting Zain Malik for 7 days.

There are 29 fake accounts opened in Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and United Bank Ltd.

Names of Former President Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed, his sons and more than 10 were included in case as an interim charge sheet.

The case was filed in banking court Karachi in August last year and afterwards it was transferred for trial to accountability court of Rawalpindi.