Gilani gets 7-day protective bail in graft cases

The anti-corruption court on August 27 had issued arrest orders against Gilani

Former Pakistan prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani today secured a seven-day protective bail in nine corruption cases filed against him for allegedly making millions of rupees by approving subsidies to fake companies.

A single bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi granted protective bail to the PPP leader in the nine cases and directed him to furnish surety bonds of Rs 100,000 in each cases.

Earlier, the 63-year-old former prime minister, accompanied by lawyers and supporters, appeared before the IHC to seek pre-arrest bail in corruption cases after an anti-corruption court in Karachi last week issued non-bailable arrest warrant against him.

The anti-corruption court on August 27 issued arrest orders against Gilani and former trade minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented a formal charge sheet of 12 cases registered against the duo and some senior officials of Trade Development Authority Pakistan (TDAP).

Gilani and Fahim are named in a multi-million-rupee graft scandal for alleged corrupt earnings by approving subsidies to fake companies through a scheme of TDAP.

FIA charged them for approving and disbursing fraudulent trade subsidies worth millions of rupees to several fake companies through fictitious claims and backdated cheques.

Later, interacting with media, Gilani accused the government of launching several "fake" cases against him and said that he was not afraid of arrests and jails.

"In my entire tenure there was not a single political prisoner in the country," he said.

Gilani was prime minister from 2008 to 2013 when he was sacked after the Supreme Court held him responsible for defying an order of the court to write a letter to the Swiss government to reopen a corruption probe against then President Asif Ali Zardari.

He had spent about five years in jail during tenure of Pervez Musharraf (1999-2008) for making illegal appointments in 1990s when he was the speaker of the National Assembly.