IHC turns down NAB objection against allowing former Sindh Bank president to operate frozen account.

ISLAMABAD -- The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has allowed former Sindh Bank president Bilal Sheikh to withdraw Rs95,000 from his account seized by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with his alleged involvement in a fake accounts case.

IHC Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Ghulam Azam Qambrani heard the petition filed by Mr Sheikh.

An inquiry was initiated against him by NAB with respect to a fake accounts scam pertaining to imprudent lending to Omni Group of Companies.

According to the petition, the petitioner was also a member of the board of directors of the bank and joined an inquiry and appeared before the investigation officer. The inquiry was converted into an investigation in June, 2019. Subsequently, the petitioner was arrested on July 10, 2019, but released on bail in Dec 2019.

The petitioner's counsel adopted before the court that NAB had attached his properties and bank accounts after implicating him in the case.

The petitioner moved an application before the accountability court seeking clarification that the letter sent to the court by NAB was in fact a notice of caution which had the effect of freezingaccounts in terms of section 12 of the NAB ordinance.

The accountability court held that the letter was in fact a notice of caution under section 23 and was not a freezing order. The petitioner filed another application seeking permission to withdraw Rs950,000 per month as monthly expenses but it was disposed of on Oct 23, 2019 with permission that the petitioner can withdraw only Rs95,000.

NAB challenged this order in the IHC.

The petitioner's counsel argued before the court that NAB had no authority to send letters to banks asking them to freeze the accounts of his client.

It was submitted that the purpose of freezing the account was to prevent sale of assets which had been obtained through embezzled/ill-gotten money so that if found guilty the amounts may be recovered from the accused which is not the case in the instant case as the matter is still under investigation.

The court noted: 'When it comes to the known assets of any accused person, NAB conveniently avoids passing of orders...

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