A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team on Tuesday raided the Model Town residence of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif to arrest him after he skipped another hearing at the anti-graft watchdog’s Lahore headquarters. However, the NAB team left the residence empty-handed after staying outside for almost two hours, as a heavy contingent of police officers blocked media personnel and protesting party workers with a barricade.
The team reportedly led by NAB Deputy Director Chaudhry Asghar consisted of four people, including women. The watchdog officials and police officers then headed to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s home in Jati Umra in search of the PML-N president.
The NAB raid came after PML-N president skipped a hearing in a case related to accumulating assets beyond means. Instead, in his response to the anti-graft watchdog summons, Shehbaz said its team can question him via Skype because he is a cancer survivor and does not want to pose a risk to his health amid the coronavirus pandemic. He added that some of the NAB’s officers have tested positive for the deadly respiratory illness as well.
On May 4, Shehbaz had appeared before NAB – unlike his response to previous summons – in which he had maintained that he couldn’t join the investigation in person due to Covid-19. Responding to the questions, he had said all his assets had been declared and he had already submitted the relevant details to NAB. However, NAB had termed the reply and record submitted by Shehbaz unsatisfactory and had summoned him again on June 2, asking him to come along with the required information.
Speaking on the developments in Lahore’s Model Town, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah said the actions of police and the NAB fall under ‘contempt of the court’. “Such behaviour is indicative of the government’s confusion,” he said. “The whole nation is concerned over the coronavirus pandemic and locusts’ attack but the rulers are engaged in vindictive actions,” he added.
A high court has already scheduled a hearing for the case at 11am on Wednesday, he said, noting that Shehbaz will appear for that hearing. The PML-N president has not returned from London to appear in the NAB case, he noted, but has come to Pakistan on his brother Nawaz’s advice to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. “I do not know where Shehbaz Sharif is,” he stated, adding that it is strange why the NAB is in such a hurry.
PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the raid is the result of ‘NAB-Niazi nexus’. “The cases on Shehbaz – from Ganda Naala, Saaf Pani, Ashiana scheme, 56 companies, earthquake funds embezzlement – are false allegations. The entire drama since the past two-and-a-half years is in front of the Pakistani people,” she said.
Meanwhile, a Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench has fixed Shehbaz’s plea for pre-arrest bail in the case for Wednesday (today). The bench comprising Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi and Justice Farooq Haider will hear the matter.
Shehbaz Sharif filed the petition through Advocate Amjad Pervaiz. He said that the NAB had launched an investigation against him over charges of assets beyond means and money laundering. He submitted that the instant proceedings were prompted by mala fide intentions.
