KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) legislator Sharjeel Inam Memon on Friday said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has a sympathetic attitude towards former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Talking to journalists outside Sindh Assembly building, Memon said that the NAB officials arrested him soon after his plane landed at Benazir International Airport (BBIA) but the former premier was exempted from undergoing such treatment.

The anti-graft body has been showing leniency towards Sharif which is beyond my understanding, Memon who is also facing NAB cases in graft allegations, remarked.

Referring to NAB chairman’s statement that anti-corruption watchdog has an even-handed policy, he claimed that he was put behind the bars even after taking a bail.

Denouncing the anti-corruption watchdog’s dual standards, Memon inquired about the criteria of putting anyone’s name on ECL.

He took a jibe at the PML-N leader for his involvement in ousting the PPP’s government.

“Those who swept to power through pulling legs of a democratic government, how they could call themselves defenders of the democracy,” he questioned.

Memon said while the PML-N leader minted money through Islamic republic unions, Asif Ali Zardari remained imprisoned for 11 years in fake cases. “Prison is the second home of a PPP worker,” he stated.

Responding to a question regarding the heavy contingent of security forces deployed for Sharif family’s trip to the accountability court owing to a large crowd of party workers, Memon said using state resources and VVIP protocol was wrong but added that it was the right of every worker to show support for their leader.

Memon, a close aide of former president and PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, was nominated in a reference by NAB relating to alleged corruption in award of advertisements of the provincial government’s awareness campaigns in electronic media.—INP