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Saturday, October 5, 2024

PPP’s Khursheed Shah to travel abroad amid Rs1.23b corruption allegations

An accountability court in Sukkur has ordered the provincial home secretary to remove PPP senior leader Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah’s name from the Exit Control List.

PPP leader and Federal Minister for Water Resources senior leader Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has been allowed to travel abroad despite facing Rs 1.23 billion in corruption charges.

According to the details, an accountability court in Sukkur ordered the provincial home secretary to remove PPP senior leader Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

The court granted permission to the senior PPP leader to travel abroad for treatment and directed him to deposit a Rs 1 million bond as surety with the court. The travel ban on PPP’s Shah had been imposed in 2019.

Read more: After Nawaz and Zardari, Khursheed Shah shifted to hospital

Mukesh Kumar, counsel for Khursheed Shah, said that a medical team consisting of seven doctors previously formed by the court had also submitted its report, which recommended that his client be allowed to travel abroad for treatment for 30 days.

It is pertinent to mention here that the anti-graft watchdog National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed assets beyond means reference of Rs 1.23 billion against Syed Khursheed Shah and 17 co-accused.

In 2012, an accountability court directed NAB to file a reference against Khursheed Shah on a complaint pertaining to the alleged accumulation of illegitimate assets.

In 2013, NAB reopened two corruption cases against Khursheed Shah under the directives of the Lahore High Court. In July 2019, NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal approved nine inquiries against different personalities, including Khursheed Shah.

Read more: PPP should not resign from assemblies, Khursheed Shah advises Bilawal

Subsequently, Khursheed Shah was arrested on Sept 18, 2019, and NAB filed another reference against him the next day.

Khursheed Shah and 17 co-accused, including his two wives, two sons, two nephews, contractors, and alleged frontmen, pleaded not guilty to charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income when an accountability court judge formally indicted them in Dec 2020.