SHC grants protective bail to Jam Shoro

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday granted protective bail to former provincial minister for local government Jam Khan Shoro. Earlier, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader had approached the SHC for protective bail after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) issued his arrest warrants for alleged corruption. As a two-judge bench of the SHC took up the ex-minister's plea, his counsel said that the anti-graft body wants to take his client into custody. "We were issued a call-up notice in June," he said. To this, NAB officials said, "Shoro was involved in corruption in the allotment of plots in Karachi Development Authority." The court then asked NAB officials, "If you have arrest warrants then will he be detained from the court premises?" The SHC then granted protective bail to the ex-minister and asked him to furnish bail bonds worth Rs1 million.

Earlier, NAB said that teams had been formed for the arrest of the PPP leader. The anti-graft body had initiated a probe against former Sindh minister in October 2017 for allegedly occupying government land.

Speaking to the media later during the day, provincial minister Nasir Hussain Shah dismissed the allegations against Shoro. "Jam Khan Shoro is not involved in corruption of any kind," he asserted. "He will come out clear and we trust the courts," he added.