IHC rejects hearing Zardari's pre-arrest bail plea in absentia

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday heard the pre-arrest bail plea of former president Asif Ali Zardari while an application for his exemption from attendance of the court hearing was also filed on the basis of medical grounds, Geo News reported. 

Zardari had filed a bail plea after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) opened an investigation into a New York apartment allegedly owned by Zardari.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq heard the pre-arrest bail case.

Naik pleaded that the former president couldn’t appear before the court due to health problems and prayed the court to grant him bail in the NAB inquiry in his absence. He contended that Zardari was under treatment at a private hospital in Karachi.

During the hearing, the court questioned how could a bail plea be heard in the absence of Zardari. In response, Zardari's lawyer Farooq H Naik asked the court to grant two more days for his client to appear before the court. 

However, the court rejected the request to hear Zardari's pre-arrest bail plea in absentia. Commenting on the remarks, Justice Aamer Farooq said that the presence of the applicant is necessary in pre-arrest bail cases.

Upon hearing the court's remarks, Naik said that Zardari will be presented before the court tomorrow (July 7) and will be brought to the premises via an air ambulance. The court has agreed to hear the case tomorrow. 

The case

The NAB has informed the former president, via a notice, that he had not disclosed in Pakistan that he owned an apartment in New York's Manhattan area. 

NAB also pointed out in the notice that the anti-graft body could not obtain records confirming that any legal sum was sent from Pakistan to buy the flat in New York.

The former president wrote in the petition that he received NAB's notice on June 15 and had sought time to respond to the notice. Zardari said he had requested time so he could gather information about the property.

"There is a history of NAB targeting me," stated the former president in the petition. "I am suffering from several ailments, and getting treatment from doctors," he had added.

Ali Zaidi shares property tax bills of Zardari’s alleged NY apartment

Federal minister Ali Haider Zaidi, in 2018, tweeted the property tax bills of a New York apartment allegedly owned by the PPP co-chairperson.

The PTI had filed a reference with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against Zardari for allegedly hiding the property in his nomination papers.

The petition was submitted by the PTI's Khurram Sher Zaman and Firdous Shamim Naqvi moved the ECP Sindh to take notice of the matter and disqualify Zardari as a member of the National Assembly. The provincial election commissioner had maintained that only the ECP Islamabad could take action over it.

The property documents tweeted by Zaidi mentioned the address of the apartment as: 524 East 72 street, Apt 37F, NY, NY Manhattan 10021. Zaidi tagged Zaman in the tweet, and said: "@khurram2004 more info for your petition."

— With additional input from APP.