Pakistan: Court extends remand of Zardari's sister in graft case

An accountability court here on Monday extended the physical remand of Asif Ali Zardari's sister Faryal Talpur for 14 more days in a mega-money laundering case worth Rs. 4.4 billion.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had requested an extension in the remand of the PPP leader. The decision would allow the Bureau to further interrogate Talpur till July 22.

Talpur and her brother Zardari, who is the former president of Pakistan, were recently arrested in the graft case. The arrests were made after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected the pre-arrest bail applications of the siblings, reported the Express Tribune.

The case pertains to suspicious transactions worth Rs 4.4 billion allegedly carried out through a fictitious bank account.

In January last year, the Federation Investigation Agency (FIA) began an inquiry when the State Bank of Pakistan's financial monitoring unit issued a "suspicious transaction report" on 10 bank accounts. Transactions worth billions were made over the years through over 20 bogus accounts opened with a private bank.

At least 32 people are under the FIA scanner for laundering money from fictitious accounts. Zardari, however, has denied all these allegations.