Qaiser Iqbal challenges asset forfeiture order in Kohistan corruption case

PESHAWAR: Qaiser Iqbal, the principal accused in the high-profile Kohistan embezzlement case, has approached the Peshawar High Court against an accountability court order that directed the confiscation of several of his properties in favour of the government.

In his petition, the former head clerk of the communication and works department asked the high court to set aside the accountability court’s May 20, 2026, order, under which multiple movable and immovable assets, including cash and jewellery allegedly linked to him, were treated as surrendered and forfeited. He also sought a declaration that his statement recorded by the accountability court on May 20 was unlawful and without legal authority.

The petition further requested the court to declare illegal the proceedings conducted on May 20, when he was brought from prison for the recording of his statement. He also asked for interim relief, seeking suspension of the accountability court’s order and restraint on the respondents, including the National Accountability Bureau and relevant government officials, from transferring, disposing of, alienating or creating third-party rights in the forfeited properties until the case is decided.

Challenge to May 20 proceedings

The accountability court’s order violated the principle of a fair trial. The plea has been filed through advocates Naveed Ahmad Khan and Sayed Abid Shah.

The respondents named in the case include the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through its chief secretary, the provincial home secretary, the NAB chairman, NAB’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa director general, the bureau’s combined investigation team and others.

Qaiser Iqbal and his wife, Gul Fareen, were arrested by NAB in October 2025 in connection with the case concerning the alleged embezzlement of more than Rs37 billion from the Upper Kohistan district accounts office. They remained in NAB custody for 14 days before an accountability court sent them to prison on judicial remand.

Gul Fareen was later granted bail by the Peshawar High Court in February this year against two surety bonds of Rs5 million each.

NAB allegations in the case

NAB had moved an application before the accountability court on May 19, asking it to pass an appropriate order on the basis of an application attributed to Qaiser Iqbal for surrender and forfeiture of his assets as proceeds of crime.

On May 20, the accountability court issued the order now being challenged. The accused had been produced from prison and that his statement had been recorded, adding that he was willing to surrender the properties in question.

NAB has alleged that Qaiser Iqbal, along with other accused persons, was involved in the illegal withdrawal and misappropriation of more than Rs37 billion from the contractors’ security deposit head of account G-10113. The bureau has said that during its inquiry it found that officials of the communication and works department in Upper Kohistan, acting in collusion with officials of the district accounts office and the National Bank of Pakistan branch there, misappropriated funds from various projects through bogus withdrawals from the national treasury in the names of contractors who had not carried out any civil work.