Court disposes of petition: Inquiries against Khusro Bakhtiar, brother to be concluded in three months, LHC told

LAHORE: The NAB told the Lahore High Court Wednesday that inquiries against federal minister Khusro Bakhtiar and his brother provincial minister Hashim Jawan Bakht into allegations of amassing assets beyond known source of income would be concluded in three months.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem was hearing a petition moved by advocate Ahsan Abid, challenging NAB chairman’s order to transfer inquiries from Multan to Lahore. The petitioner, also the complainant against bother’s minister, pleaded that in early 2018 he moved a complaint against Makhdoom brothers to NAB Multan office but they paid no heed to it.

Meanwhile, both brothers contested in 2018 general election from NA-177 & NA-256 Rahim Yar Khan respectively and won their seats. He said the NAB remained indecisive about the fate of his complaint and he had to approach LHC’s Multan bench which directed the NAB to expedite the inquiries against them.

He said the NAB had transferred the inquiries to Lahore without any legal justification and not intimating him about the progress. He requested the court to set aside NAB chairman’s order of transferring the inquiries from Multan to Lahore and direct the NAB to conclude the same expeditiously.

He further prayed to the court to direct anti-graft body to file references against both the brothers and place their names on the ECL. NAB’s special prosecutor Syed Faisal Bukhari told the court that inquiries were under way and would be culminated in three months.

He said NAB chairman was empowered to transfer any inquiry from one regional office to another. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court disposed of the petition accordingly.