SC gets NAB report on 150 mega corruption cases

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that cases pertaining to abuse of their official position by Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, his brother and the Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif and others were pending with it.
In pursuance of the apex court’s orders passed during the last hearing in 150 mega corruption cases, NAB submitted a report to the apex court with complete details about financial scams, land scams and abuse of power.
In its report, the Bureau said cases of abuse of official position were under investigation against Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, former president Asif Ali Zardari, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and former secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani.
In the public office-holders scam category, out of about 150 mega scams, 50 each relate to financial scams, land scams and abuse of official position. In the financial scam category, 22 cases are under inquiry, 13 are under investigation while 15 references have been filed.
Similarly, in the land scam category, the Bureau has held 29 inquiries, 13 investigations and filed eight references.The court was informed that in the category of abuse of power by the public officeholders, 20 inquiries had been conducted while 15 investigations and 15 references had been filed.
Referring to the details about the abuse of power by the public office-holders, the court was informed that investigation was under progress against Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif for misuse of authority in the construction of a road from Raiwind to the Sharif family house by misappropriating Rs126 million.
Similarly, the court was informed that aninvestigation was also in progress against Nawaz Sharif for making illegal appointments to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) while misusing his authority in 1999.
Likewise, an investigation is also in progress against the incumbent Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on three cases of 23 million pounds, $3,488 million and $1,250 million.The court was informed that former president Asif Ali Zardari was under trial for having Rs22 billion and assets worth Rs1.5 billion which were beyond his known sources of income.
The NAB further said investigation in various cases against Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, including award of RPP contracts through a sponsor and schemes of Rs985 million and Rs318 million through a government functionary while misusing authority, was in progress.
Investigation is also in progress against former acting prime minister and interior minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and ex-federal minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for misusing their authority and having Rs2.428 billion assets beyond their means.
The report also includes details about investigations in progress against the former secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Hussain Haqqani who misused his official position to award unlawful licences to three private companies for establishing FM radio stations in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
The report also gave details of investigations in progress against former Balochistan chief minister Nawab Aslam Raisani as well as former chairman Ogra Tauqeer Sadiq.The court was informed that Tauqeer Sadiq was under trial in Rs80.56 billion scam and making appointments and allocating CNG stations by misusing his authority.
Similarly, the report stated that two former prime ministers Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and a retired bureaucrat Shaukat Hayat Durrani were under trial for illegally appointing Tauqeer Sadiq as the chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).