Sharjeel Memon, 12 others indicted in corruption reference
February 15, 2018
KARACHI: A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court on Thursday indicted Former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Memon in the Rs5.76 billion corruption case.
Memon and eleven others accused in the corruption reference were arrested by NAB in October last year.
The 13 accused persons, including Memon, pleaded not guilty to the corruption charges in court.
Lashing out at the apex anti-corruption organisation and the ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N), Memon alleged that NAB has dual standards.
"The then-interior minister Chaudhry Nisar added my name to the Exit Control List (ECL). He should also appeal to get his leader's [Nawaz Sharif] name added to the list," he said while speaking to journalists in the court premises.
He further said that the former finance minister Ishaq Dar fled the country yet his name was not added to the ECL.
In an apparent reference to Nawaz's protocol, Memon stressed that the Chief Justice should take notice of the dual standards within the government ranks.
"These people appear in courts with VIP protocols. The chief justice should also take notice of this dual standard," he said.
The case
The suspects are accused of corruption worth Rs5.76 billion in the award of advertisements of the Sindh government’s awareness campaigns in the electronic media.
"The accused persons jointly and severally in connivance with each other have been alleged for awarding the contracts to favour certain advertising agencies and to their own favour, in violation of relevant laws and rules and against exorbitant rates," said a press release issued by NAB.
Memon, who returned to Pakistan in March last year after ending his near two-year-long self-imposed exile, was arrested on his arrival by NAB but later obtained bail.
The other accused in the case include bureaucrats, officials of the information department and members of private advertising agencies.
Memon claims the charges against him are politically motivated.
