Following the Supreme Court's recent ruling, a significant development unfolded in Karachi as an accountability court officially reopened a corruption case amounting to Rs5.75 billion involving Sharjeel Memon, a prominent leader of the Pakistan People’s Party.
In response to this legal resurgence, Sharjeel Memon, along with his co-accused individuals implicated in the case, appeared before the accountability court. Their primary objective was to challenge the jurisdiction of the court in light of the Supreme Court's decision.
However, the court unequivocally stated that, following the Supreme Court's verdict in the NAB Amendment case, the court's jurisdiction could no longer be contested. Consequently, the trial of the corruption case is set to recommence precisely from where it had been left off.
During the latest court proceedings, witnesses and the accused were summoned, and the court adjourned further proceedings to October 5, creating an atmosphere of anticipation and uncertainty surrounding the case's future developments.
The allegations at the heart of this case revolve around Sharjeel Memon and 16 others being charged with embezzling a substantial sum of Rs5.76 billion, supposedly misappropriated from advertisement funds within the information department. The case stems from a 2016 reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which accused them of involvement in irregularities related to the allocation of contracts to various newspapers and channels for the dissemination of public interest advertisements and other activities