KARACHI : PPP leader and former Sindh minister Sharjeel Memon on Tuesday excused himself from appearing before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the fake accounts scam.

In a letter to the NAB Rawalpindi, he said he could not appear before it today due to the ongoing budget session in the Sindh Assembly and requested that the hearing be rescheduled to a later date, assuring that he will turn up before it.

NAB officials confirmed to have received the letter from Sharjeel Memon with the investigation officer of the case getting back to him to inform him about issuance of his summon next month.

The PPP leader was likely to be quizzed about his alleged involvement in financial wrongdoings during his stint as the Sindh local government minister. Former Sindh minister is also accused of taking kickbacks, the bureau said.

He is facing a number of cases, including ones related to a multi-billion scam in the Sindh information department and owning more assets than his known sources of income justify.

PPP Leader Sharjeel Memon and 16 others have been charged with misappropriating advertisement funds of the information department to the tune of Rs5.76 billion. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against them in 2016 over involvement in alleged irregularities in awarding contracts to different newspapers and channels for running public interest advertisement and others.

They inflicted a loss of Rs5.76 billion to the national exchequer, the bureau said.