LAHORE: A day after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif skipped the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) hearing, the accountability watchdog said it had no intention of arresting the former Punjab chief minister.
A NAB spokesman said in a statement that the bureau has required only detailed answers to a few questions from Shehbaz Sharif. He said the bureau takes action as per law and rules in light of the evidence and added NAB officers have no affiliation with any political party or group.
NAB had summoned Shehbaz on April 17, asking him to furnish the complete details of his foreign assets and other businesses in a money laundering case. However, Shehbaz skipped the hearing, saying that he was advised to restrict movement owing to coronavirus as he was a cancer survivor.
Shehbaz had said: “I am a 69-year-old cancer survivor due to which I have low immunity. Medical professionals have advised me to restrict movement and limit exposure due to life-threatening risks associated with COVID-19.”
In 2018, medical experts had told on the condition of anonymity that years go Shehbaz was treated for appendicular adenocarcinoma (a cancerous tumour).
According to his medical reports that had surfaced at the time, Shehbaz was said to be suffering from a kidney infection, a lymph node in his chest and had chances of his cancer resurfacing.
In a fresh questionnaire sent to Shehbaz, NAB had said multiple call up notices, along with questionnaires, were issued to the PML-N leader but his replies were found “unsatisfactory, incomplete and evasive”
Shehbaz was also asked to provide the complete details of his business income as claimed before the Federal Board of Revenue, along with investment and its volume and expenditures incurred during the period when his Model Town residence was declared the chief minister house/camp office.
