SHC dismisses bail plea of Sharjeel, others in Rs5.78 bn corruption reference

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday dismissed the bail petitions filed by former information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon and others in the Rs.5.78 billion corruption reference.

Former information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, information department officials Zulfiqar Ali Shalwani, Sarang Latif and others had filed post arrest bail petition in the SHC. Sharjeel and others were booked by the NAB in a corruption reference along with information department officials and advertising companies’ representatives for committing corruption in the award of advertisements of the provincial government’s awareness campaigns in electronic media involving over Rs.5.78 billion. Sharjeel Memon’s counsel sought bail of the petitioner on medical grounds, submitting that Memon was facing ailment and required medical treatment. It is pertinent to mention that the Supreme Court had also taken suo moto notice over hospitalisation of Sharjeel Inam Memon without the orders of the accountability court where the case of the petitioner was pending and directed the IG prison to shift the PPP leader back to jail from hospital.

The court had earlier dismissed protective bail petitions of Sharjeel Inam Memon and 13 others. It observed that the current case is more a case of a joint criminal enterprise whereby every accused plays their role in order to achieve a criminal object all of which they were aware of and could not have been achieved without the active participation of all involved.

Meanwhile, the Sindh High Court on Friday adjourned the hearing of petitions filed by five death row convicts, who were tried and sentenced in the Safoora Goth carnage and police officials’ murders by a military court and have challenged their convictions, on request of petitioners counsel. The petitioners, Saad Aziz, Tahir Hussain Minhas, Mohammad Azhar Ishrat, Hafiz Nasir Ahmed and Asadur Rehman, were sentenced to death by a military court for killing 45 members of the Ismaili community and injuring several others on May 13, 2015. They have challenged their military trials and convictions in court.