Former Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon on Monday rejected claims that he has been receiving VIP treatment in jail.

The PPP leader appeared before an accountability court in Karachi for a hearing into a corruption case against him and 11 others.

Upon his arrival at the court, Memon rejected claims of VIP treatment and challenged those who believed so to "try and stay in jail for two days".

During the hearing, Memon requested the court to constitute a medical board to provide him with medical services.

Eleven co-accused who had been arrested alongside Memon by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials in October also appeared in court today for the hearing.

The court was expected to convict the co-accused today. However, no progress in this regard was made and the hearing was delayed until Dec 14.

Memon was greeted with flowers petals showered by his followers who had gathered outside the court.

Corrupt practices

On October 1, NAB had filed a reference against Memon and others for committing corruption in the award of advertisements of provincial government’s awareness campaigns in electronic media involving over Rs5 billion.

The reference said that the investigation was conducted regarding corruption and corrupt practices in the advertisement awareness campaigns on TV and FM channels between July 2013 and June 2015 and it was found that the accused acted in connivance with each other resulting in a loss of Rs3,279,177,029 to the national exchequer.

It was revealed in the investigation that an amount of Rs5,766,479,766 was paid to seven advertisement companies in violation of the Sindh Public Procurement Rules 2010.