ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Friday summoned Interior Minister Rehman Malik over corruption charges. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) spokesman Ghazni Khan told Arab News a case against Malik was pending at a NAB court in Karachi, but he never appeared before the court to defend himself. Malik has been accused of embezzling funds related to the Yellow Cab scheme.
Khan said NAB court judge Mir Muhammad Shaikh issued a warrant for Malik’s arrest, but Malik told Arab News he had not received any warrant. My lawyer has been told by the NAB court that no arrest warrant was issued against me.
Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has already been barred from leaving the country, as the top anticorruption body begins implementing a Supreme Court ruling that declared illegal an amnesty protecting politicians including President Asif Ali Zardari. A NAB court has called for travel bans on more than 250 people after the court ruling sparking calls for Zardari to resign.
“The accountability court has summoned Malik. We have also reopened cases of 52 more people,” said Salman Butt, deputy prosecutor general of the NAB in Sindh province.
A court official in Sindh, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Malik would have to appear along with two other Zardari allies on Jan. 8.
His lawyer, Khwaja Naveed, told reporters that Malik was on bail in one case at the time the amnesty was passed. “Malik is ready to appear again if summoned by the accountability court,” Naveed said, also denying reports of an arrest warrant issued for Malik.
NAB officials said earlier the body had instructed the Interior Ministry to put the names of 253 people on the “exit control list” restricting travel. Mukhtar told local television late Thursday he had been due to go on an official three-day visit to China but that his name had been put on the list restricting travel. “It was in connection with a corruption case. But there is no corruption case against me — it is only an inquiry which is pending against me for the past 12 years. I will strongly defend myself in the court,” he said. The NAB later put out a statement denying Mukhtar was on the list, but it did not explain why he was not allowed to leave. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani took a serious notice of the incident and suspended Interior Ministry secretary, additional director FIA and two inspectors. A formal inquiry has been ordered.
