Daily Times

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has sought bank and property records of Farah Khan, a close friend of former prime minister Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, from various departments in the assets beyond means case.

The anti-corruption watchdog last month authorised an inquiry against Farah for accumulating “illegal assets beyond known sources of income, money laundering, and maintaining various accounts in the name of businesses”. A private TV channel reported on Tuesday that the NAB Lahore bureau has sought records of the accused property from the deputy commissioners of different districts.

NAB also sent letters to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the excise department, seeking details of her accounts and banking transactions.

Earlier, NAB issued a statement saying that a huge turnover amounting to Rs847 million was found in Farah’s account during the last three years.

It added that the amount did not commensurate with her stated account profile. “These credits were received in her personal account and withdrawn immediately after credit within a short time period,” it stated.

The anti-graft body further said in a review of Farah’s income tax returns that her assets had “significantly increased” from 2018 onwards “for unknown reasons”. “Moreover, she has been frequently travelling to foreign jurisdictions; nine times to the US and six times to the UAE.” Amid the allegations, Farah had left for Dubai on April 5.

Meanwhile, NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal Tuesday visited NAB Lahore to review the emerging updates on ongoing mega corruption cases. He chaired a briefing put forth by Director General (DG) NAB Lahore accompanied by the Combined Investigation Teams (CITs). On the occasion, Javed Iqbal announced to handover cheques amounting to more than Rs1 billion among the affectees of various housing societies and other scams, during his upcoming visits.

Addressing the NAB Officers, Javed Iqbal emphasized on the fact that each and every NAB case would be dealt by setting aside any kind of pressure while pursuing the merit, only. He said that NAB was a national Institution and directly concerned with the country the nation as well. He said that NAB was mandated to eradicate the menace of corruption whatever the atmosphere may be. He affirmed that NAB would continue to hold lawful activities.

Talking about the references filed in accountability courts, the Chairman NAB said that during last five years, NAB’s operations and prosecution wings had successfully got convicted around 1405 accused persons and hefty amount worth billions had also been recovered. Iqbal also appreciated the performance of NAB Lahore under the supervision of DG NAB Lahore by positively commenting that NAB Lahore’ recoveries and convictions had massively contributed in the overall performance of NAB which resulted in achieving numerous milestones for the Bureau.

The Chairman maintained that NAB was a prime National Institution which challenged corruption and corrupt practices while remaining under the ambit of law. Numerous national and international organizations had admitted and admired the diligent services of NAB, he added.