Pakistani media mogul remanded into anti-graft body's custody for 12 days

Pakistani media mogul and the owner of Jang/Geo group, Mir Shakilur Rehman, was on Friday remanded into the custody of the country's anti-graft body till March 25 in a 34-year-old land allotment case.

Rehman, the editor-in-chief of Jang/Geo media group, was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau on Thursday on charges that he illegally acquired 54 plots each measuring one kanal on a prime location in Lahore at a throwaway price in 1986 during the tenure of then-chief minister of Punjab Nawaz Sharif.

An accountability court in Lahore accepted the plea of NAB on Friday and remanded him in its custody for 12 days.

Reman's counsel Aitzaz Ahsan opposed the NAB plea to hand over his client to its custody in a 34-year-old land case against him which he said based on NAB's malafide.

During the hearing, Reman's counsel Aitzaz Ahsan opposed NAB's request for physical remand, saying NAB's "attitude towards Rahman is based on maliciousness".

Ahsan termed his client's arrest as "illegal", arguing that Rahman was cooperating with the accountability watchdog.

After his appearance before the NAB team in Lahore last week, Rahman had said he had bought the land in question from a private party and no illegality had been committed in this respect.

Prime Minister Imran Khan during election campaign in 2018 used to call Rehman "media Godfather" and declared to take action against him for tax evasion.