NAB inquiries against Chaudhrys closed, LHC told

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday told the Lahore High Court that the two last inquiries pending for 20 years against PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi have been closed for lack of evidence.

NAB-Lahore Director General Shahzad Saleem was present in the court when the prosecutor submitted a report about the closure of inquiries of assets beyond means and illegal appointments against Shujaat and Pervaiz. The prosecutor said the inquiries have been closed for want of evidence. The NAB had already dropped another inquiry against the two political leaders on charges of loan default. At this, the bench headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan disposed of the petitions filed by the Chaudhrys wherein they alleged that the NAB had been used for political engineering.

Previously, the bench had directed the NAB to conclude within four weeks the inquiries pending for the last 20 years against the PML-Q leaders, the allies of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government. The PML-Q leaders had pleaded that all the inquiries against them had been recommended for closure by the investigating officers and the regional board of the NAB during 2017 and 2018.

However, they said the sitting NAB chairman approved reinvestigation and bifurcation of the inquiries against them after a period of 20 years. They asked the court to set aside the authorization of the inquiries and the order for their bifurcation passed by the NAB chairman for being unlawful.