NAB put on notice over Sharjeel Memon’s plea for permission to travel aboard

The Sindh High Court has issued notices to the special prosecutor of the National Accountability Bureau and a federal law officer on a petition filed by Pakistan Peoples Party MPA and former information minister Sharjeel Memon seeking permission to travel abroad.

Sharjeel, who has been facing two NAB references pertaining to charges of Rs5.78 billion advertisement corruption and accumulation of Rs2.43 billion assets beyond known sources of income but is on bail in these cases, approached court for permission to travel aboard from time to time.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that his client was on bail in the NAB cases and facing the trial; however, he required to travel abroad to look after his children who were studying in the USA and the UK.

He submitted that the petitioner’s name had been placed on the exit control list on court orders. He requested the court to grant him permission to travel abroad as and when required to look after his children.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro directed the special prosecutor of NAB to file comments on the petition. The prosecutor sought time to file comments. The court directed NAB to file comments by August 10.

The SHC had earlier modified its previous order with regard to the placement of the names of Memon’s wife and mother on the ECL, and directed the interior secretary to remove their names from the list.

NAB had filed a reference alleging that Memon had accumulated wealth and assets worth Rs2.43 billion beyond his known sources of income and purchased properties in benamie persons and relatives’ names. It had further alleged that Memon had transferred Rs1.8 billion out of the country through illegal modes of Hawala and Hundi through a money exchange company from 2012 to 2016.

JSMU’s plea dismissed

The Sindh High Court has dismissed a Jinnah Sindh Medical University’s (JSMU) application seeking a modification in the court’s earlier order to allow the intervener candidate of the VC to be appointed acting VC till a decision of the case.

An appellate bench had earlier set aside the SHC’s single bench observation with regard to the continuation of a notification about the appointment of Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) vice chancellor and ordered that the notification remain suspended till the hearing of the pending applications.

The order came on a high court appeal filed by Prof Dr Lubna Ansari seeking an injunction against the issuance of a notification for the appointment of Prof Dr. Amjad Siraj Memon as the JSMU VC despite interim restraining orders of the high court.

The JSMU filed review applications in the court, seeking modification of the SHC’s appellate bench order to the extent that intervener candidate Dr Amjad Memon, whose notification was suspended by the court, was allowed to act as acting VC till the injunction application was decided by the single bench.

The JSMU counsel submitted that day-to-day functioning of the university was severely disrupted and requested the court to either allow Dr Amjad Memon to continue as acting VC or permit the government to issue necessary directions for the appointment of intervener as acting VC till a decision of the suit.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui observed that concerns of the applicants of review applications are such that perhaps it may take some time to decide the pending applications in the suit.

The court observed that this was not scope of the review jurisdiction and dismissed the application. The court however directed all counsel concerned to cooperate with each other and seek disposal of the applications within two weeks with approval of the single judge before whom the matter would be fixed for hearing for disposal of the pending applications.

A search committee had recommended three names, including that of Dr Lubna, who obtained the highest 70 grading, and Dr Memon, who got 67.23 grading after interviews of the shortlisted candidates. The CM later issued the notification with regard to the appointment of Dr Memon as JSMU VC for a period of four years.