NAB decides to freeze Shehbaz Sharif's properties in illegal assets case
The decision came day after Britain-based publication Daily Mail exposed scandal against Shehbaz.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday has decided to freeze properties of Opposition Leader in National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif in illegal assets case.
The decision came day after Britain-based publication Daily Mail exposed an alleged money laundering scandal of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif from the UK government aid for earthquake victims in Pakistan.
According to a confidential investigation report seen by Daily Mail, millions of pounds were transferred into the bank accounts of Shehbaz’s family members, including his wife, children and a son-in-law.
It stated to have interviewed key witnesses held on remand in jail, including a UK citizen Aftab Mehmood.
Mehmood claimed that he had laundered millions on behalf of Shehbaz’s family from a nondescript office in Birmingham – without attracting suspicion from Britain’s financial regulators, who inspected his books regularly.
As per Daily Mail, investigators were convinced that some of the allegedly stolen money came from Department for International Development (DFID)-funded aid projects.
NAB had arrested Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme scam on October 5, 2018. The former chief minister was charged with awarding illegal contracts to his favorite firm.
He was apprehended during his appearance before NAB in Saaf Pani Company scam. Sources told that three files were tabled before him. The bureau quizzed Sharif regarding a tender awarded to a private consultancy company for a survey of the Saaf Pani company.
On February 15, LHC had ordered to release Shehbaz Sharif after approving his bail plea. The court said in its remarks that the NAB had failed to prove the allegations leveled against the PML-N president. Shehbaz Sharif never remained the chief executive of Ramzan Sugar Mills, LHC remarked.
On February 18, accountability court Judge Syed Najmul Hassan had indicted ten suspects including Shehbaz Sharif in the Ashiana Iqbal Housing scandal.
All the accused rejected the charges. The PML-N president swore to God that the case against him is false and affirmed to bring facts in front of the nation.
Ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad became an approver in the case. Fawad Hassan Fawad, in his statement before NAB, had claimed that he had awarded a contract to a “favourite firm” in Ashiana Housing project at the behest of Shahbaz Sharif.
The anti-graft agency said that the contract for the housing scheme was won by a construction company titled Chaudhry Latif and Sons but Sharif cancelled it and later on awarded the contract to Lahore Casa Developers – a proxy group of Paragon City (Pvt) Limited, which is said to be owned by ex-Railways Minister Saad Rafique”.
