Daily Times

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday gave a clean chit to Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi by closing all three inquiries in a 20-year old case reopened against them.

Director General NAB Saleem Shehzad appeared before the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) division bench, informing it that the authority has closed down the ‘assets beyond means’ inquiry against the petitioners. Subsequently, the court disposed of the petitions.

The petitioners, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Pervez Elahi, had challenged NAB chairman’s authority of reopening the two-decade-old case involving ‘misuse of authority, willful default and assets beyond means’.

Separately, an accountability court (AC) in Lahore extended judicial remand of Shahabz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz till January 26 in the money laundering case.

Shahbaz and Hamza were presented before AC Judge Jawad ul Hassan on conclusion of four-day judicial remand. NAB prosecutor Asim Mumtaz and two witnesses also appeared before the court.

During the course of the hearing, NAB witness Deputy Commissioner FBR Bilal Zameer’s statement was recorded while due to absence of Shahbaz Sharif’s counsel, cross-questioning of NAB witness Muhammad Sharif could not take place. The court extending the judicial remand of Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahabz Sharif for six more days called witnesses on January 26.

Meanwhile, an accountability court in Rawalpindi summoned former ambassador Babar Hashmi in a corruption case on February 9.

Hashmi has been accused of working with former accountant Tufail Qazi and embezzling Rs 19 million from 2016 to 2018. The government released the funds for its embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.

A reference was submitted against Hashmi and Qazi on January 6. NAB Rawalpindi conducted the inquiry on the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The embezzlement continued for two years and surfaced when a new accountant took charge of the embassy,” the bureau said in the reference.