NAB approves fresh references against Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Yousaf Raza Gilani

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Zulfikar Bukhari, as the executive board of the anti-corruption watchdog granted approval for closing an inquiry against the politician.

According to a notification from the anti-graft body, the decision to close the inquiry against Bukhari was made owing to lack of evidence.

Whereas, the NAB’s executive board in its meeting authorised filing of corruption references against former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and former president Asif Ali Zardari for allegedly inflicting billion of rupees losses to national exchequer.

The meeting chaired by NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal authorised filing of three corruption references against Yousaf Raza Gilani, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari, Khawaja Anwer Majeed and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed in fake bank account cases. The suspects have been allegedly involved in getting gifts and vehicles from government in violation of rules and regulations, which inflicted losses to the national exchequer, said a press release issued here.

The meeting also okayed filing of corruption reference against Kamran Shafi, former ambassador, and Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan, former high commissioner to the United Kingdom, for allegedly inflicting $27,000 and 28,000 pounds loss to the national exchequer.

The meeting also authorised four investigations against various personalities and nine inquiries against several suspects. It authorised closing inquiries against officers/officials and others of Punjab Thermal Power Limited, Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development, and Lahore Knowledge Park Company due to the absence of evidence