Arrest warrants for Durrani's wife, five kids reissued.

KARACHI -- An accounAtabilAity court on Tuesday repeated non-bailable warrants for the arrest of the wife and five children of Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in a reference pertaining to alleged accumulation of over Rs1.61 billion assets beyond lawful sources of income.

Mr Durrani, a senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in an Islamabad hotel on Feb 20 for investigation into his alleged movable and immovable assets beyond his known sources of income, making 352 illegal appointments, embezzlement of public funds in the construction of the MPA Hostel and the new Sindh Assembly building, as well as the appointment of project directors for these schemes.

On Tuesday, the speaker was produced before Judge Farid Anwar Qazi of the Accountability Court-IV. Seven other suspects - Tufail Ahmed Sheikh, Mitha Khan, Gulzar Ahmed, Shamshad Khatoon, Agha Masihuddin Khan Durrani and Zulfiqar Ali Dahar - appeared on bail.

However, Mr Durrani's wife, his four daughters, a son and other suspects did not turn up.

NAB says Sindh Assembly speaker's wife and three daughters have fled to US

The judge inquired from NAB's investigating officer Asif Raza about the progress with regard to execution of the non-bailable arrest warrant issued by the court against the alleged absconders on Oct 12.

Special Public Prosecutor Shahbaz Sahotra filed a compliance report stating that the court's notices could not be served on Mr Durrani's family members at their residence in Phase-V of the Defence Housing Authority in Karachi.

The compliance report mentioned that it had been learnt that the accused persons had absconded to the United States of America.

The report contained the travel history obtained from the Federal Investigation Agency that showed that Mr Durrani's wife Naheed and daughters - Sonya, Shahana and Sara - had departed for the US from Jinnah International Airport on March 8 and had not returned to Pakistan.

It further stated that Mr Durrani's son Agha Shahbaz...