National Accountability Bureau (NAB) spokesperson Nawazish Ali on Sunday said that the anti-graft body will approach an accountability court to declare Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender in a case pertaining to the alleged allotment of a piece of land Jang/Geo Media Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakilur Rehman.
Reportedly, the bureau’s Lahore chapter has completed all legal formalities to issue his arrest warrants and it will plead the accountability court in Lahore to declare him proclaimed offender over non-cooperation in the investigation.
The decision was reportedly taken after the former premier, who is one of the accused in the illegal allotment case, failed to appear before the bureau multiple times and did not submit satisfactory answers to the NAB’s questionnaire.
On March 27, NAB had sent a questionnaire to Nawaz and had summoned him to the bureau office on March 31 to record his statement. Earlier, on March 15, NAB’s Lahore office had summoned the former premier to appear before the bureau on March 20, but no response came from him.
NAB claims that Nawaz — when he was the Punjab chief minister — allotted a 54-kanal plot of land in 1986 to MSR.
Nawaz is currently in London where he is undergoing treatment for various illnesses. Rehman was arrested by the anti-graft watchdog on March 12 when he appeared before the Lahore office of the bureau in relation to the private property case.
According to Rehman, the property in question had been bought from a private party and all the evidence, including legal requirements like duty and taxes, were provided to the anti-graft body.
Rehman had gone to the bureau’s Lahore office on a call-up notice for verification of the complaint, but the arrest was made.
