An accountability court in Karachi, on Monday, made a significant decisionby granting post-arrest bail to Agha Siraj Durrani, the current SindhAssembly Speaker. This move comes in light of a case in which he is accusedof amassing assets worth Rs1.61 billion through allegedly illicit means.
Mr. Durrani, a prominent member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, wasapprehended by the National Accountability Bureau at an Islamabad hotel onFebruary 20, 2019. His arrest pertained to the investigation of purportedlyunexplained movable and immovable assets, 352 unauthorized appointments,financial irregularities in the construction of the MPA Hostel and the newSindh Assembly building, and the appointment of project directors for theseinitiatives.
On this particular Monday, Judge Shahid Pervaiz Memon, presiding overAccountability Court-VII, delivered the verdict that had been reservedearlier regarding Mr. Durrani’s second bail application.
The judge highlighted that the National Accountability Ordinance, prior toamendments, did not provide for the grant of bail to the accused. The courtacknowledged that Mr. Durrani had experienced periods of custody from July1, 2019, to November 3, 2019, and again from December 23, 2021, up to thepresent date.
It was noted that his second arrest had resulted in over a year ofcontinuous incarceration, and the extensive examination of more than 50witnesses had understandably prolonged the trial process.
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In emphasizing the principle that no one should be held in custodyindefinitely and that bail should not be used as a form of punishment, thejudge granted bail to Mr. Durrani, conditional upon the provision of a Rs1million surety. Earlier in the proceedings, Mr. Durrani’s defense counsel,Farooq H Naek, argued that his client had been in custody for a durationexceeding one year. Additionally, there were approximately 50 witnesseswhose testimonies were pending for the prosecution to record.
During his previous bail period, Mr. Durrani had not misused thisconcession or tampered with evidence. The defense further emphasized that,over the span of four years, they had requested only two adjournments, andthe delays in concluding the trial warranted bail on statutory grounds. NABprosecutors, Syed Manzoor Ali and Nadeem Ali, countered these arguments bynoting that similar grounds had been previously presented by the accused inan earlier bail plea, which had been dismissed on December 29, 2022.
The court at that time had ruled that Mr. Durrani had not been in custodycontinuously for one year, as his last custody period had been two monthsand 20 days. However, they conceded that now, more than one year hadelapsed, and Mr. Durrani remained in custody.
