Park Lane Company case: NAB calls in Zardari, Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi has summoned former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Dec 13 to answer queries in the Park Lane Company case.

The father-son duo have to respond to queries with regard to the ongoing investigation against the officers of CDA, M/s Pak Lane Estate Company Private Limited and others for illegally allotting the forest department land to the company.

Zardari will be reaching Islamabad on December 12 to attend the National Assembly session starting from Monday (today).

According to the NAB sources, Park Lane Estate (Pvt) Ltd was jointly owned by Asif Ali Zardari, son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as a shareholder and a few others.

The company had purchased almost 2,500 kanals of land near Sangjani in March 2009 from Faisal Sakhi Butt.

The NAB Executive Board had authorised investigation against the officers of CDA, Messer’s Pak Lane Estate Company and others in its meeting on May 23.

They face the charges of illegally allotting the forest department land to the Park Line Estate Company causing a huge loss to the national exchequer.

When contacted, PPP Parliamentarians Secretary General Farhatullah Babar confirmed receiving a NAB notice served on Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Babar said the NAB had summoned the PPP chairman on December 13 in a case against the company that came into being when he was barely one-year-old and a minority shareholder.

“Ratcheting up to pressure party leadership. Thank you NAB. The more you do the more you expose yourself as a political arm of government for witch-hunt,” he said.

Meantime, PPP spokesman Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said a team of lawyers will appear before the NAB Rawalpindi on 13th December on behalf of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

The spokesman said the notice was ludicrous because Chairman Bilawal was being asked about issues which occurred when he was only one-year-old.

He said the NAB notices were nothing but political victimisation and threatening the opposition.

"The selected prime minister wants nobody to have opinion about his policies which is harmful for the economy and country," he said.

Senator Mustafa said the ‘tyrannical rule of Prime Minister select Imran Khan and his ministers’ was a painful reminder of the past dictatorships. “The PPP has had its fair share of such notices in the past and these petty schemes will never stop it from speaking for the people," he said.

Meanwhile, Sindh Minister Saeed Ghani has said that the NAB doesn’t have the courage to summon Prime Minister Imran Khan's sister Aleema Khan in an assets case because it was not being used for accountability but for political victimisation. “A false press release was issued on Friday to keep the meeting between the NAB chairman and Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday a secret. The NAB chairman has become a puppet of Imran Khan and the institution of NAB has become a tool in the hands of Prime Minister Imran Khan to victimise his political opponents,” he said while commenting on the notice sent to the party leaders.

He said the FIA like the NAB was busy in media trial of politicians who politically opposed the prime minister.

“The society will be destroyed if institutions are run with dual standards. This will result in chaos and anarchy,” he warned.

Agencies add: Meanwhile, PPP leader Khursheed Shah Sunday warned the government against running its affairs through an ordinance and said it seemed from the prime minister’s statements that the dark clouds of dictatorship were looming.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, Shah said his party will fully oppose the move if the government decided to run its affairs through an ordinance.

“Governments are run through ordinance during dictatorships. It seems as if the government is becoming an alternative to dictatorship,” he remarked.

He pointed out that his party and the opposition were ready to cooperate with the government for law-making in the country’s interest.

He reminded the PTI-led government that it had just seven-vote majority in the House.

“The PPP believes in the parliamentary system. The government will be dealt a tough time if an ordinance was brought,” he said.

He expressed hope that the government will not be foolish to set up standing committees by itself and said the PPP will not become part of the standing committees until their traditional implementation.

Referring to the prime minister’s recent plan to eradicate poverty from the country with the help of poultry, Shah remarked, “[Only] the hens laid eggs during the government’s first 100 days in power.”