ISLAMABAD – Fearing arrest, Former President Asif Ali Zardari hasapproached Islamabad High Court for bail before arrest in money launderingcase.

A banking court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Pakistan People’sParty Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and 15 other accused in the fake bankaccounts case.

During the hearing of Rs35 billion money laundering case, the prosecutionstated that arrest warrants were issued in an earlier hearing for theaccused who were declared absconders in the charge sheet submitted by theinvestigative agency in July.

Former PSX chairman Hussain Lawai is among the accused. However, astatement issued by the PPP said Zardari’s counsel Farooq H Naek deniedthat the court had issued arrest warrants for Zardari.

Those who were declared absconders include the former president, his sisterand MPA Faryal Talpur, chairman of a private bank, Anwar Majeed, AbdulGhani Majeed, Aslam Masood, Mohammad Arif Khan, Adeel Shah Rashidi, NasserAbdullah Hussain, Mohammad Ashraf, Adnan Jawed, Mohammad Umair, IqbalArain, Qasim Ali, Shahzad Ali, Azam Wazir Khan, Sher Mohammad Mugheri, ZainMalik, Mohammad Iqbal Khan Noori, Nimr Majid and Mustafa Zulqarnain.