SHC issues notice to NAB as Faryal Talpur seeks permission to travel abroad

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), federal interior ministry and others on a petition filed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Sindh Assembly member Faryal Talpur, who is also the sister of PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, to seek permission to travel abroad.

Faryal, who has been facing a NAB reference pertaining to fake accounts before an accountability court in Islamabad, submitted that she had been facing a corruption inquiry for last couple of years.

Her counsel submitted that the Federal Investigation Agency had first initiated the inquiry with regard to fake accounts and later the inquiry was transferred to NAB. The lawyer submitted that the petitioner's name was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) on the recommendation of the FIA since December 27, 2018. He submitted that the petitioner wanted to travel abroad to meet her ailing daughter.

The counsel requested the high court to grant a one-time permission to the petitioner to look after her ailing daughter for four weeks in the United Kingdom. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha, after a preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the deputy attorney general and NAB deputy prosecutor general for November 26.

The bench also directed NAB to explain how many references were pending against the petitioner, the status of each reference and when the petitioner’s name was placed on the ECL.