Court rejects Khurshid Shah's submission of surety bonds as NAB's challenges his bail

A NAB petition pleaded with the Sindh High Court to nullify the bail approved for the PPP leader.

KARACHI (Dunya News) – A district and sessions judge on Wednesday turned down a request made on behalf of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior politician Khurshid Shah for submission of his surety bonds for his release after Sukkur’s accountability court yesterday approved his bail application in the assets beyond means case.

The judge directed the Shah’s defense counsel to approach the accountability court tomorrow for this purpose when today the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor told the court that Khurshid Shah’s bail approval has been challenged by the bureau with the Sindh High Court (SHC).

Earlier today, the NAB challenged the bail granted to the PPP leader in the assets beyond means case.

The petition filed with the SHC contended on behalf of NAB Chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal that the decision of Shah’s release on bail was against the Constitution. It further pleaded with the court to nullify the bail approved for the PPP leader.

Yesterday, an accountability court granted bail to Shah against surety bonds worth Rs5 million.

On Dec. 10, the NAB decided to form a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) for investigation into the case against Shah.

The anti-graft watchdog had written a letter to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi, Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Director General (DG) and Securities and Exchange Companies of Pakistan’s (SECP) chairman.

The anti-agency while asking the national institutions to provide the required expertise in the white collar crime said that the JIT probe was necessary before filing a reference against the PPP leader.

On Sept. 18, the NAB arrested senior the PPP leader in the same case. "NAB Sukkur arrested Syed Khurshid Shah in the assets beyond means case," a brief handwritten statement issued by NAB Islamabad had said.

In 2012, an accountability court had directed NAB to file a reference against him on a complaint pertaining to alleged accumulation of illegitimate assets.

In 2013, NAB had reopened two corruption cases against Shah under the directives of the Lahore High Court.

In July this year, NAB Chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal had approved nine inquiries against different personalities, including Shah.

Who is Khurshid Shah?

Born in 1952, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah hails from Sindh’s Sukkur region, which he went on to represent as an MPA and later as MNA. He studied at Sukkur’s Islamia College and obtained the degrees of MA and LLB.

He was elected to the Sindh Assembly in 1988 during which he was made a provincial minister holding a wide range of portfolios – education, import and transport being some of them. He made his way to the parliament in 1990.

Shah also served as a federal minister for education in 1993, during slain PPP leader, Benazir Bhutto’s second government. In 2008, he was elected from NA-199 (Sukkur cum Shikarpur-II), PPP and became minister for labour and human resources. He was made the federal minister for religious affairs in 2010.

In 2013, he was elected from NA-199 (Sukkur-cum-Shikarpur-II), PPP and became the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.

He was elected to the National Assembly once again in 2018, as he won NA-206 (Sukkur-1) and was the opposition’s joint nominee for speaker’s position.