Court rejects Siraj Durrani's plea of dismissing NAB reference against him

Dunya News

On June 17, the court reserved its verdict on the maintainability of the reference against him.

KARACHI (Dunya News) – An accountability court in Karachi on Monday rejected Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani’s application to dismiss the reference filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in assets beyond means case.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing of the case till July 12.

On June 17, the court reserved its verdict on the maintainability of the reference against him pertaining to assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

As the hearing resumed in the previous hearing, the NAB had maintained that it could apprehend the suspects by inquiring the matter within 24 hours.

The NAB further had said that the inquiry against the PPP leader had begun on April 8 this year after receiving complaints and the chairman of the bureau approved filing the reference against the accused person after initial investigation had been completed.

The NAB prosecutor told the court about the proofs during investigation that Durrani was involved in the corruption of Rs1.61 billion, and his family members and workers were accomplices to him in this crime.

He pleaded to the court to accept the reference against Durrani and the others accused in the case.

The defence counsel, however, pleaded with the court to reject the reference on grounds of lack of evidence and non-fulfilment of legal requirements.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge reserved the decision and fixed July 1 as the date of announcing the verdict.

Later, Durrani stated that the court proceedings were according to the Law and he would try to defend the case.  “The time will decide about the right and the wrong,” he said.