Daily Times

Two former presidents of the National Bank of Pakistan have turned approvers against former president Asif Ali Zardari in the Park Lane reference, NAB told an accountability court on Wednesday.

The bureau has accused Zardari of misusing his authority as the country’s former president and approving loans for companies allegedly owned by him. He is accused of causing a Rs 4 billion loss to the national exchequer. Zardari, however, has challenged NAB’s jurisdiction in the case. He said that the case falls within the ambit of the banking ordinance and must be heard by banking courts.

Syed Ali Raza and Syed Qamar Hussain have claimed that Zardari did indeed misuse his authority in the case. Raza said that Zardari used to ask him to issue funds to companies of his own choice. He claimed that the former president met him and told him to ‘take good care of Anwar Majeed’. He said that Abdul Ghani Majeed used to deliver messages to them on Zardari’s instructions.

Hussain was the head of the credit committee when the loans were approved while Raza was the president of the bank. Later, Hussain took over as president after Raza’s retirement. The two witnesses will now have to repeat their statements in court after Zardari is indicted in the case. PPP leader Latif Khosa told reporters that people turning approvers against politicians is not a new phenomenon. “It happens every time there is no solid evidence against the accused person. It happened with Zulfikar Bhutto too,” he said.

Meanwhile, an accountability court Wednesday postponed indictment of Asif Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in money laundering case till August 7. Exemption pleas of both the accused were submitted in the court. On the other hand, during the hearing on a plea seeking dismissal of Park Lane reference against PPP leader, NAB submitted a pay order of transferring money into bank accounts of rickshaw owner and faloda seller. The anti-graft watchdog said that Rs 20 crore were transferred to rickshaw owner’s account with name of Dream Trading while another Rs 20 crore were sent into the account of faloda seller with the name of Ocean Enterprises.

Meanwhile, NAB on Wednesday sought property record of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and his family members. NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa office asked the Peshawar deputy commissioner to submit the required record as it came into action over an application filed by some unidentified person. The deputy commissioner is now required to provide the record of not only Fazl and his wife but also his sons – Maulana Asad Mehmood MNA, Anas Mehmood and Asjad Mehmood.