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The Sindh High Court has granted bail to model and make-up artist Nadia Hussain’s husband, Atif Khan, marking his second attempt at securing post-arrest relief in a high-profile embezzlement case.

In an order issued by Judge Ali Haider, Khan — arrested in connection with a Rs530 million bank fraud case — was granted bail against a surety of Rs1 million. The court also confirmed the interim bail of the co-accused, former CFO Imtiaz Ahmed Channa and Faisal Mahmood Sheikh.

Khan was taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on March 8 for allegedly embezzling funds during his tenure as CEO of Al-Falah Securities, according to the FIA press statement. The criminal inquiry was initiated on the complaint of the chairman of the company’s board of directors.

In a detailed press note, the FIA Karachi Zone spokesperson said that after an “exhaustive” inquiry, it had been “unambiguously substantiated that Atif Mohammad Khan embezzled Rs540 million from Al-Falah Securities CLSA Pvt Ltd by misusing his position as its CEO and committing such acts which constituted criminal breach of trust, falsification of accounts and books, fraud and forgery”.

The FIA had also summoned Hussain to appear before the agency’s Corporate Crime Circle by April 14, stating that Khan’s bank records showed she had “beneficially received Rs26.418 million” in her salon’s business accounts during the years, which squarely coincides with the period of the aforesaid corporate fraud” allegedly committed by her spouse.

According to the Sindh High Court order, the complainant accused Khan of corporate financial fraud, criminal misconduct, breach of trust, abuse of authority, dishonest misappropriation of company funds, falsification of accounts, and personal financial gains at the company’s expense.

The order further noted that Khan was accused of conducting personal trading using company funds and only partially returning the amounts he acquired during his tenure from 2015 to December 2023. “He received Rs1.404 billion from the bank and returned only Rs1.324 billion, creating a debit balance through bogus entries,” it stated.

Khan had earlier filed an application for post-arrest bail before Additional District and Sessions Judge (South) Ihsan Malik through his counsel, Mukesh Kumar. That plea was dismissed on May 23.

However, upon reviewing the “facts and circumstances of the case”, Judge Haider deemed Khan “entitled” to the concession of bail.

Meanwhile, during her husband’s custody, Hussain herself became the subject of a separate FIA inquiry under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), after the agency claimed she had levelled “unfounded and baseless allegations against FIA officials”.