Daily Times

The Lahore High Court on Tuesday granted pre-arrest bail to Malik Riaz’s son-in-law Zain Malik for a week. On Monday, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against Zain Malik in the fake accounts case.

The reference was filed in an investigation into holders of public office, legal persons and others allegedly involved in the ongoing fake bank accounts case pertaining to a misuse of authority in the allotment or regularisation of government land in flavor of M/S Pink Residency and others.

Those named in the reference are accused of misusing their authority and causing losses worth Rs 2.5 billion to the national exchequer. NAB Rawalpindi, as part of its reference into the allotment of over 30 acres of land worth Rs 2.5bn, has cautioned the relevant authority to avoid any further sale or purchase of land. During the hearing, a two judge bench of the LHC, headed by Justice Malik Shehzad Ahmed, heard the petition for pre-arrest bail.

Advocate Azhar Siddique represented Zain Malik in court and said that a number of enquiries have been initiated against the petitioner.

“I want to go to the relevant forums to defend my case,” Zain Malik said in his petition.

“I fear that NAB will arrest me and thus a pre-arrest bail should be provided,” he added.

The court approved a week-long pre-arrest bail for the petitioner, keeping NAB from arresting him in the stipulated period.

The fake accounts case involves alleged money laundering worth billions of rupees through 29 accounts, which were found opened in three banks – Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and United Bank Ltd.

The Federal Investigation Agency had named PPP leaders Asif Ali Zardari, his sibling Faryal Talpur, Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed, his sons and over 10 others as suspects in an interim charge sheet filed in a banking court in August last year. The case was recently transferred from the banking court in Karachi to the accountability court of Rawalpindi for trial.