KARACHI, December 21: A banking court on Friday extended the interim pre-arrest bail of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur till January 7 in an ongoing money laundering case.
The former president and his sister appeared before the court as the interim bail granted to them ended today.
A large number of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) workers and senior party leaders, including Khursheed Shah and Rehman Malik, had gathered outside the court premises as reports earlier circulated that Zardari may have been arrested today. Earlier during a high-level party meeting, the PPP decided to stage a protest in case Zardari was arrested.
A day earlier, the JIT that has been investigating the fake accounts recommended a legal course against some 415 key individuals and around 172 entities allegedly involved in transactions of approximately Rs220 billion through 104 fake accounts.
The JIT observed that either the investigation would be further referred to banking courts, NAB, FIA or it was up to the apex court to decide based on the JIT findings. In a series of events in the fake accounts investigation, the JIT report also revealed a domestic worker of Zardari, with an estimated fortune of around Rs8.1 billion stashed into one of his fake accounts. Agencies
