Hussain Lawai, former chairman of Pakistan Stock Exchange, and Abdul Ghani Majeed of Omni Group are the main suspects in the case and have appeared before the court.
The court inquired during the hearing if there had been any developments in the investigation of the ‘fake accounts’ scam, to which investigation Officer Mohammad Ali Abro said that the case was being transferred to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further investigation as per the Supreme Court’s orders.
‘The top court had said that the case should be investigated further, not that it should be transferred to NAB’, responded Farooq H Naek, Zardari’s lawyer.
The FIA prosecutor told the court that the request for the case’s record and transfer is being moved to the anti-corruption supervisory body.
Earlier in January, the Supreme Court had ordered NAB to complete the probe of the fake accounts within two weeks. The FIA is yet to transfer the case officially, though the NAB has initiated an investigation already.
The court further said that the FIA should submit a final challan before it files an appeal for transferring the case.
The hearing of Abdul Ghani and Anwar Majeed’s bail plea will be held on Feb 20.
The joint investigation team (JIT) had recommended 16 references against the accused, it was up to NAB how it would treat them and those found guilty of corruption will have two options: either to face a reference or ask for a plea bargain.