KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday ordered arrest of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sharjeel Inam Memon after his interim bail application was rejected in a corruption case.
The PPP leader, along with former information secretary Zulfiqar Shalwani, and others, is facing a graft reference to the tune of Rs5.76 billion filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in an accountability court.
During Monday’s hearing, Memon and other suspects appeared before the court and requested for grant of extension in bail but the SHC chief justice turned down their bail pleas.
Later, Memon filed another application to the SHC chief justice, seeking a stay on his arrest by NAB officials. Sources said the PPP leader was staying inside the courtroom to avoid arrest. A two-member bench of the court will hear the fresh application shortly.
The former provincial information minister who had returned from self-imposed exile in March this year, had obtained protective bail in April in connection with an inquiry initiated by the top graft buster.
Memon had fled the country in 2015 to Dubai after the anti-corruption watchdog launched a crackdown against corrupt political figures and bureaucrats as part of the Karachi operation.
The national anti-graft watchdog later filed a reference in the accountability court regarding the alleged corruption in the advertisements campaign of the provincial information department.
