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Friday, October 4, 2024

Zardari’s close aide Aftab Memon arrested

News Desk |

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday 8th March, arrested Karachi Development Authority (KDA) Secretary and former president Asif Ali Zardari’s close aide Aftab Ahmed Memon from Islamabad. The bureau will present him before an accountability court today to ask for his physical remand.

Memon has reportedly been accused of allotting illegally land in Malir district, causing a loss of billions to the national exchequer. He was indicted in an illegal land allotment case in 2017. He, however, pleaded “not guilty”.

In a recent interview, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had expressed his reservations over the accountability law and said that “it [bureau] was created only to pressurize the political parties”.

 In a recent development, it had arrested Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in a case pertaining to accumulating assets beyond declared means.

Referring towards the political engineering, the sitting member of the national assembly (MNA) had said that “from Ayub’s era to Zia’s, it has been a trend in Pakistan to suppress the popularity of PPP”. “[You see] 1990 general elections is an epitome”, he recalled.

While stressing upon the need for a non-political accountability process, Bilawal had said that the law should treat everyone equally.

The anti-corruption watchdog has been inquiring several PPP leaders in a mega-money laundering scam. In a recent development, it had arrested Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in a case pertaining to accumulating assets beyond declared means.

Read more: End of Zardari’s era: What is the way forward?

Last month, Sindh Assembly Speaker and PPP leader Agha Siraj Durrani was arrested for accumulating assets beyond means. NAB officials told local media outlets that the bureau waited for Durrani to leave Sindh before making the arrest as Durrani is escorted by his sizable security team in his home province and the bureau was concerned that a direct confrontation would turn hostile.