NAB ordered to drop Zia’s name from inquiry

LAHORE
An accountability court Monday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to drop PPP leader Qasim Zia’s name from the inquiry list after he availed the concession of voluntary return in a stock exchange fraud case.
The court summoned co-accused Ali Usman Ch and Muhammad Ali on October 12.
The court issued the directives after counsel of Qasim Zia informed the court that his client voluntarily deposited a chunk of the disputed amount to the NAB.
The counsel assured the judge that Qasim Zia would also submit Rs 20 million willingly to the NAB in the scam. Therefore, he pleaded the court that the name of his client be removed from the inquiry list of the NAB.
A law officer on behalf of the NAB told the court that the accused had deposited some amount voluntarily with an assurance that the rest of the amount would also be deposited. On it, the court ordered the NAB to remove his name from the inquiry list.
Previously, Usman Qasim, son of Qasim Zia, had filed an application with the NAB under Section 25 of the NAB Ordinance for Voluntary Return (VR) by offering to pay all the liability of Qasim in the case. The family of Qasim Zia had agreed to pay Rs 20 million to NAB under VR.