Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, while
presiding over Friday's hearing on Sharjeel Inam Memon's bail
application, raised questions over the former minister's claims of
deteriorating health.
The PPP leader had filed an application in SC
for bail, saying that the "National Accountability Bureau (NAB) did not
have any evidence" against him. He had also appealed to the court to
constitute a medical board to provide him with services, which was
accepted by NAB.
Memon requested the SC to set aside the
Sindh High Court decision for his arrest, adding that the apex court has
already issued an interim bail to another accused — Inaam Akbar — in
the case.
Justice Khosa, in Friday's hearing, asked why
everyone who was arrested by NAB fell ill and remarked that NAB should
construct a state-of-the-art hospital to treat those people.
Referring to media reports that an entire hospital
floor was allegedly booked for Memon, he said that some people were
exploiting the law that allows prisoners with health problems to be
transferred to a hospital.
"It has become a regular practice," he claimed. "Medical boards grant favours to people accused of crimes."
The
former information minister had said that he was suffering from medical
problems that could not be treated at the jail facility, a claim that
had been rejected by NAB's prosecutor. Complying with Memon's request,
NAB had ordered on December 13 that a medical board comprising
neurologist and a neurophysician among other specialists be formed to
determine whether the PPP leader could be treated in jail.
During
Friday's hearing, Memon's lawyer told the court that Memon was
transferred to a hospital after the jail administration had informed the
Sindh government that he could not be treated in jail. Justice Khosa
responded by pointing out that Memon was arrested after the Sindh High Court rejected his interim bail application earlier.
The
SC issued a notice to federal government demanding an answer over
whether Memon should be granted bail in the case, adjourning the hearing
until the first week of January 2018.
Corrupt practices
On October 1, NAB had filed a reference against Memon and
others for their involvement in the award of contracts for the Sindh
government’s awareness campaigns to electronic media. The former
minister is accused of misappropriating funds of more than Rs5 billion.
The
reference said NAB had investigated corruption and corrupt practices in
the award of contracts for advertisement awareness campaigns run on TV
and FM channels between July 2013 and June 2015. It was found that the
accused had acted in connivance with each other, resulting in a loss of
Rs3,279,177,029 to the national exchequer.
It was
revealed in the investigation that an amount of Rs5,766,479,766 was paid
to seven advertisement companies in violation of the Sindh Public
Procurement Rules 2010.
The former minister was arrested by NAB officials on November 23, along with 11 others who have been nominated in the reference.
