Anticorruption court grants pre-arrest bail to PTI leader

• The court granted the bail to Siddiqui subject to furnishing of surety bonds of Rs200,000 and restrained the Anti Corruption Establishment (ACE) from arresting him till Nov 21.
• The ACE lodged a case against former senior minister of Punjab Abdul Aleem Khan and his partner Siddiqui besides several employees of the revenue department on charges of encroaching upon 55 kanal state land for a housing society.
• Siddiqui through a counsel contended that the case against him was a result of political victimization.

LAHORE: A special court of anticorruption on Friday granted interim pre-arrest bail to former MPA of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Shoaib Siddiqui in a case of illegal occupation of the state land.

The court granted the bail to Siddiqui subject to furnishing of surety bonds of Rs200,000 and restrained the Anti Corruption Establishment (ACE) from arresting him till Nov 21.

The ACE lodged a case against former senior minister of Punjab Abdul Aleem Khan and his partner Siddiqui besides several employees of the revenue department on charges of encroaching upon 55 kanal state land for a housing society.

Also Read

Court extends pre-arrest bail of Kamran Kiyani, Nadeem Zia in corruption case

They said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should file a separate reference...

Siddiqui through a counsel contended that the case against him was a result of political victimization. He said the ACE wanted to arrest him, however, he was willing to join the investigation.

He asked the court to grant him pre-arrest bail.

On October 16, an accountability court had extended interim pre-arrest bail of Kamran Kiyani, a brother former army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kiani, and Nadeem Zia, one of the owners of Paragon City, in a corruption reference of Punjab Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme.

In this reference, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had been granted a permanent exemption from personal appearance in the proceedings. A pleader, however, had attended the proceedings on behalf of the prime minister.

Former director general of Lahore Development Authority Ahad Khan Cheema, who is also an accused, had appeared before the court.