NAB grills Nawaz in jail over illegal use of bulletproof government vehicles

LAHORE: A team of National Accountability Bureau on Monday grilled convicted ex-premier Nawaz Sharif for two hours in Kot Lakhpat Jail in connection with an investigation into the alleged personal use of 20 bulletproof vehicles, imported from Germany for the Saarc Summit 2016.

Sources said a four-member NAB team, led by Additional Director Hamad Hassan and Deputy Director Investigation Abdul Majid of bureau’s Islamabad office, reached the jail Monday afternoon and questioned Nawaz Sharif in the jail superintendent office. He was also given a questionnaire, added the sources. The bureau is also likely to serve a questionnaire on Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz in this case.

As per case details, NAB accused Nawaz Sharif of personally using 20 bulletproof vehicles, which were purchased for the use of foreign dignitaries attending South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Conference 2016. Unfortunately, the conference could not take place due to boycott of different countries.

NAB alleges that 34 bulletproof vehicles were brought from Germany without paying import duty and 20 of them remained in the personal use of Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz illegally. NAB alleged that the foreign ministry misused their authority by handing over the vehicles to the Sharif family.

Earlier, on May 21, an Islamabad Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik granted permission to NAB to interrogate the ex-premier in the Lahore jail. Meanwhile, in a message on her Twitter account on Monday, Maryam Nawaz rubbished the investigation, claiming that "fake prime minister" Imran Khan was not being investigating for using Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government's helicopter illegally as he was above the law.