NAB inquiries case: Chaudhrys object to presence of judge on LHC bench

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench Thursday adjourned hearing of three petitions, filed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, challenging three 20-year-old inquiries against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) central leader and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi personally appeared before the bench. Other party leaders and his legal team including Lahore High Court Bar Association President Tahir Nasrullah Warraich and Amjad Pervez accompanied him.

The bench comprises Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem and Justice Farooq Haider. During the short hearing, Warraich objected to the presence of Justice Haider on the bench, saying the judge had represented the Chaudhry brothers in a number of cases before his elevation. Therefore, he said, it would not be appropriate for the judge to be part of the bench, hearing the instant petitions.

Justice Naeem, who headed the bench, observed that the bench was not going to hear the petitions, as it received the case files late and was unable to go through them. The judge said the bench would hear the petitions on May 11 and decide first the objection raised by the counsel on the presence of the judge on the bench.

Pervaiz Elahi did not talk to the media. However, his party leader Kamil Ali Agha said NAB had initiated the inquiries against the Chaudhry brothers 20 years ago on an anonymous complaint. He said his party had an old stance that NAB had been established for political victimisation. He said the party leaders had presented their viewpoint before the court, through petitions, and now their lawyers would do their job.

He said that in year 2000, raids were conducted on the residences and offices of the Chaudhry brothers. Now, they had approached the court to seek justice, “and we hope that the process of taking action on anonymous applications will be stopped now”.

Senator Kamil Agha said the NAB chairman could not order retrial of a 20-year-old case. The petitions, filed by the Chaudhry brothers, stated that in year 2000, the then chairman of NAB authorised investigation against them on the allegations of misuse of authority, amassing assets beyond means and wilful default under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999. They said all the three investigations were recommended for closure by the investigating officers and regional board of NAB during 2017 and 2018, when the government of political archrivals was in place.

However, they said, the NAB chairman approved in 2019 reinvestigation and bifurcation of the inquiries against them after an investigation spreading over a period of 19 years. They asked the court to set aside the authorisation of the inquiries and the order for their bifurcation, passed by the NAB chairman for being unlawful.

Earlier, the LHC bench, admitting the petition for hearing, ordered the NAB chairman and other respondents for submitting replies by Monday, May 11.