Ahsan Iqbal, four others indicted in Narowal Sports City Complex corruption case

ISLAMABAD: PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, along with four others, has been indicted by an accountability court for their involvement in the Narowal Sports City Complex corruption case.

A hearing for the reference was held on Tuesday by accountability judge Syed Asghar Ali.

According to Geo News, the former director-general of Pakistan Sports Board Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera, Sarfraz Rasool, ministry of planning officer Asif Sheikh, and a private contractor named Muhammad Ahmed were also charged for their involvement in the case.

Ahsan Iqbal, however, has denied his involvement in the case, saying that the government is wasting resources on lies.

"The purpose of these false references is to discredit, pressure, and hurt the Opposition," the former federal minister said while speaking to journalists outside of the court.

He also said that Prime Minister Imran Khan's Bani Gala house is illegally constructed, adding that the person who regularised the illegal construction of Bani Gala has made a case against him.

"Imran Khan demolished the houses of hundreds of poor people by declaring them illegal," he claimed. "Action should be taken against the Capital Development Authority (CDA) officers for illegal regularisation of Imran Khan's house."

As per the NAB, the sports city project was conceived on the instruction of Iqbal without any feasibility in 1999. This project was first called the Sports Stadium Narowal. It was initially approved at a cost of Rs34.74 million by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), which Iqbal headed.

NAB maintains that Iqbal illegally directed the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and NESPAK to increase the project's scope, enhancing the cost to Rs97.52 million.