Mashhood was blacklisted on NAB plea, court informed

LAHORE : The ministry of interior informed the Lahore High Court that it had included PML-N MPA and former provincial minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad in the blacklist on the recommendation of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

It said the NAB had requested the ministry to place him on the blacklist out of apprehensions of his escape abroad to avoid an inquiry into alleged corruption in the Punjab Youth Festival. The ministry submitted the reply to a petition filed by the former provincial minister challenging his blacklisting by the government. In this case, the high court has already restrained the NAB from taking coercive action against him.

Meanwhile, Mashhood also filed a civil miscellaneous application to the court for placing on record his reply to the questionnaire served to him by the NAB.

He contended that the questionnaire he received from the NAB proved that it was just fulfilling a formality as it had no concrete evidence against him. He said the NAB was just playing for the gallery and wanted to keep him in the loop with some political agenda as it had been claimed by many stalwarts of the PTI government.

He said the NAB had closed the inquiry against him in 2017 and reopened it in violation of laws. He also presented a copy of the bureau’s executive board meeting’s minutes that approved closing of the inquiry into allegations of video clipping/illegal gratification, misuse of funds for flood donations and accumulation of assets beyond means.