Credit for PKLI’s downfall goes to Shehbaz: CJP

Author: News Desk

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar on Monday said that former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif’s decision to give the charge of Pakistan Kidney & Liver Institute (PKLI) to Dr Saeed Akhtar “out of affection” led to the hospital’s downfall.

The CJP made those remarks while hearing a suo motu case against irregularities and misappropriation of funds at the PKLI.

“The former CM, out of affection, gave the hospital’s charge to some doctor,” said the judge, who was heading a two-member bench. “The doctor added to the trust some who had no role. The entire hospital is a mess.”

Justice Nisar addressed Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel of Mujahid Sherdil whose appointment as the chief executive officer of Infrastructure Development Authority of Punjab was questioned by the top judge during a hearing in August. “Now you have come to defend a person who wasted Rs 34 billion,” he told Aitzaz Ahsan. “So much money was spent at the hospital but look at the standard of operations.”

When Ahsan objected to the findings of a forensic report compiled by Dr Kaukab Iqbal, the CJP invited him to visit the hospital with him. “You will be just as grieved as we were, we saw it for ourselves,” he said. “The entire hospital is in ruins.”

Subsequently, the apex court referred the matter to an anti-corruption court, with instructions to summon those responsible and submit a report within 10 days.

The hearing was adjourned until January 12.

Published in Daily Times, January 1^st2019.