Buzdar submits reply in NAB: ‘Allegation of issuing liquor licence baseless’

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Tuesday submitted his reply in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), declaring the liquor licence issuance allegation baseless.

He submitted his four-page reply in response to the 12-page questionnaire, which was given to him by NAB earlier. Sources said Buzdar’s reply was focused on liquor case, and it did not mention details of his assets, sought by NAB through a questionnaire.

The Punjab chief minister categorically cleared his position stating that he played no role in the issuance of the liquor licence. He said that Excise and Taxation director general (DG) had the powers to issue liquor licences. Giving further details, he stated that a total of 11 licences were issued, out which nine were issued by the DG himself. Not only this, in 2000 and 2001, the Punjab governor had also issued liquor licences.

The CM stated that a summary was sent to him by the then DG Excise and Taxation, Akram Gondal, for issuance of a licence, which was rejected. The CM, in his reply, stated that the DG Excise, after issuing the licence, again sent a summary to the CM office, but the CM’s principal secretary returned it for having been sent to an irrelevant forum. Moreover, the Excise and Taxation minister then suspended the liquor licence of the hotel in the light of a fact-finding committee. However, later, a single bench of the Lahore High Court ordered the restoration of the licence in 2019, Buzdar added. The CM said an intra-court appeal against the verdict was pending disposal and the allegations levelled against him were baseless.

Meanwhile, CM’s former principal secretary, Raheel Ahmad Siddiqui, again spent more than three hours in the NAB offices on Tuesday.