The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi on Wednesday formally nominated former president Asif Ali Zardari as an accused in the Park Lane Estate Company case. NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal presided over a meeting of the executive board of the bureau, which approved filing a reference against Zardari as director of the Park Lane Estate Company. “The EBM (executive board meeting) authorised filing corruption reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari and others on the accusation of misappropriation in financial facility sought for Messers Perathenan Private Limited, Messers Park Lane Private Limited and fake accounts, causing losses up to Rs 3.77 billion to the national exchequer,” a press release issued by the NAB after the meeting said.
The EBM also approved conducting six inquiries against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, Member Provincial Assembly Azam Khan Durrani, Irfan Durrani and others. The EBM approved filing corruption reference against Sabtain Fazal Haleem, managing director of Punjab Mass Transit Authority Multan, and others on the allegations of unrealistic assessment in feasibility study of Multan metro bus by misuse of authority and awarding illegal contracts and increase in cost due to delay, causing Rs 770 million losses to the national exchequer. The EBM closed inquiries against Ali Madad Sher, former education minister Gilgit-Baltistan; Ghazanfar Abbas Cheena, member provincial assembly Punjab; Muhammad Sher Cheena, additional advocate general revenue department, Bhakkar and others. During the meeting, NAB chairman said corruption is the root cause of all ills and the main hurdle in progress of the country. “NAB is vigorously pursuing the policy of ‘accountability for all’,” he said, and directed all the director generals to take the pending cases to logical conclusion.
