An accountability court, here on Monday, granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) an extension in the physical remand of Sindh Assembly Speaker, Agha Siraj Durrani in assets beyond means case until March 21.
After Durrani’s previous remand was completed, he was presented before the court by the bureau with a request to remand him in its custody for 15 additional days. NAB officials claimed that his custody was required for further interrogation.
The NAB prosecutor stated that the bureau hardly had two days to carry out its investigation against the speaker due to his production orders in the Sindh Assembly sessions on a daily basis. “Durrani spends little time in NAB custody,” he claimed NAB asserted that it had unearthed additional properties owned by the accused. Durrani had underdeclared his property in Abbottabad at four million against the actual value of Rs27 million, the prosecutor said. He further added that ten wrist watches worth millions of rupees, gold and foreign currency were also recovered from the suspect’s lockers.
However, Durrani also complained about NAB’s treatment of him before the court. He claimed that he was not allowed to sleep since day one in NAB’s custody. For eight hours, NAB officials remained in his residence and searched every nook and cranny of the house and took along all of things, he added. He further alleged that his family members were being persecuted as their phone calls were being tapped. During a previous hearing, the court had approved the bureau’s request for an extension in his remand till March 11 after NAB officials stated that his custody was required for further interrogation about several assets and properties. The investigation officer in the case had then informed the court that transactions worth over Rs 40 million had been made and he needed to question the people, whose names were on the pay orders.
Published in Daily Times, March 12th 2019.
