Khursheed Shah granted bail in assets beyond mean case

Sukkur: An accountability court on Tuesday granted bail to Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) senior leader Syed Khursheed Shah in assets beyond mean case.

The court ordered the PPP leader to submit surety bonds worth Rs5 million.

On Decmber 10, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had decided to form a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe into the case against Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leaders Syed Khursheed Shah.

The anti-graft watchdog had written a letter to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General (DG) and Securities and Exchange Companies of Pakistan (SECP) chairman in this regard.

The anti-agency while asking the national institutions to provide officers expert in white collar crime said that the JIT investigation is necessary before filing reference against the PPP leader.

On Sept 18, the NAB arrested senior PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah in a case regarding his alleged assets beyond means. “NAB Sukkur arrested Syed Khursheed Shah in the assets beyond means case,” a brief handwritten statement issued by NAB Islamabad said.

Multiple corruption cases against Shah are under investigation with NAB. In 2012, an accountability court had directed NAB to file a reference against him on a complaint pertaining to alleged accumulation of illegitimate assets.

In 2013, NAB had reopened two corruption cases against Shah under the directives of the Lahore High Court.

In July this year, NAB Chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal had approved nine inquiries against different personalities, including Shah.

Born in 1952, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah hails from Sindh’s Sukkur region, which he went on to represent as an MPA and later as MNA. He studied at Sukkur’s Islamia College and obtained the degrees of MA and LLB.

He was elected to the Sindh Assembly in 1988 during which he was made a provincial minister holding a wide range of portfolios – education, import and transport being some of them. He made his way to the parliament in 1990.

Shah also served as a federal minister for education in 1993, during slain PPP leader, Benazir Bhutto’s second government. In 2008, he was elected from NA-199 (Sukkur cum Shikarpur-II), PPP and became minister for labour and human resources. He was made the federal minister for religious affairs in 2010.

In 2013, he was elected from NA-199 (Sukkur-cum-Shikarpur-II), PPP and became the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.

He was elected to the National Assembly once again in 2018, as he won NA-206 (Sukkur-1) and was the opposition’s joint nominee for speaker’s position.