Anti-graft body chief visits Lahore office

LAHORE: NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal (retd) has directed the NAB Lahore to start legal proceedings for early arrest of absconders and proclaimed offenders nominated in the cases.

The chairman issued the directives during his visit to the NAB Lahore office Wednesday. He was briefed by DG NAB Lahore and Combined Investigation Teams (CITs) over the NAB Lahore performance particularly on the updates in all mega corruption scandals.

The cases included inquiry against Excise & Taxation Department officers and officials for issuance of illegal liquor licence to a private hotel, updates in money-laundering reference against former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif and family, inquiry against Noorul Amin Mengal and LDA’s ex-DG accused Ahad Khan Cheema for allegedly changing Lahore’s master plan, case against former provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah for allegedly making assets disproportionate to known sources of income, investigation against provincial minister Abdul Aleem Khan etc.

During the briefing, the NAB chairman advised NAB Lahore teams for pursuing all cases while following merit and to bring these cases to their logical conclusion. He maintained that NAB has direly been struggling to root out corruption from the country. He further said the NAB believes in impartial working against corrupt elements. He said the NAB officers don’t have any affiliation with any party or group except Pakistan. He advised all officers to treat and complete complaint verifications, inquiries and investigations according to law so the corrupt elements may be brought to justice.

Justice Javed Iqbal (retd) issued directives to bring cases against all illegal housing societies which have deprived people of billions of rupees to their logical conclusion and also ordered for adopting legal actions for early arrest of all absconders and proclaimed offenders (POs), as per law. He praised the performance of the NAB Lahore under the leadership of director general and admitted supportive role of the NAB Lahore in overall performance of anti-graft body.