The interior minister asked the court to exempt him from hearings due to the security situation and his pre-occupation with official duties.
A Pakistani anti-corruption court today put off till January 12 the hearing of two cases against interior minister Rehman Malik after he appeared before the judge and asked to be exempted from future hearings.
Malik asked the court to exempt him from hearings due to the security situation and his pre-occupation with official duties.
Judge Tariq Abbasi sought the views of the National Accountability Bureau, Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency, and deferred the matter for 10 days.
The minister said his lawyer would pursue the case. He also presented to the judge papers related to the bail granted to him in connection with the two cases by the Lahore High Court last month.
The High Court had also suspended two prison terms awarded to Malik for failing to appear in the anti-corruption court.
The cases were reopened in the wake of the annulment of a graft amnesty by the Supreme Court. The sentences will remain suspended till a decision is made on an appeal filed by Malik, the High Court said.
The two cases date back to the period when Malik was additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency.
In one case, he was accused of accepting two cars for awarding a contract for purchase of vehicles. In the other, he was charged with accepting 20 'tolas' of gold seized by an FIA official during a raid.
Meanwhile, a civil court in Rawalpindi today issued a non-bailable warrant for Power Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf and directed him to appear before it on January 18.
The warrant was issued following the minister’s failure to appear in the court despite repeated summons issued to him.
Ashraf filed an application seeking to be exempted from court hearings but Civil Judge Rai Afzal Kharal rejected it.
The case relates to a criminal complaint registered in 1998 against Ashraf and others for quarrelling and misbehaving with staff of the Lahore High Court.
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