The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday arrested senior bureaucrat Waseem Ajmal for embezzlement in Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC).
According to details, the anti-corruption watchdog carried out a raid and detained the bureaucrat.
Earlier, Lahore High Court (LHC) had granted interim bail to Waseem Ajmal in connection with Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) corruption and Saaf Pani Company cases.
The division bench conducted hearing on Ajmal’s pre-arrest bail petition and directed him to submit two surety bonds of Rs 500,000.
Meanwhile, an accountability court on Tuesday extended the judicial remand of former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and ex-finance minister Miftah Ismail till December 3 in liquefied natural gas (LNG) scandal.
During the hearing, the court has directed the authorities to file reference against the accused as early as possible.
It is to be mentioned here that the apex court on September 10, 2018 directed the NAB to complete the inquiry against Abbasi and others for the alleged corruption in the LNG contract
As the minister for petroleum and natural resources, he has been accused of granting contract on LNG Terminal to ETPL, Tri-partial agreement, LSA with EETPL and LNG import from Qatar etc.
In June 2018, the NAB approved inquiry against former premier Nawaz Sharif and Abbasi, who was the former minister for petroleum and natural resources at that time, in granting contract of LNG terminal for 15 years to their ‘favourite’ company.
It was also observed that this contract had allegedly caused a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. In January, the NAB interrogated former finance minister Miftah Ismail in the same case.
According to NAB documents, the contract for the LNG import and distribution was awarded to the Elengy Terminal, a subsidiary of Engro, in 2013 in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and relevant laws.
On the other hand, an accountability court in Lahore on Tuesday summoned witnesses to record their statements in ‘assets beyond means’ case against former director-general of Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Ahad Cheema.
During the hearing, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) appeared three witnesses in the accountability court in assets case against Ahad Cheema. However, the hearing was adjourned due to absence of Cheema’s lawyer.
During the hearing, NAB prosecutor told the court that the former LDA director-general held illegal assets in and outside the country by using names of his family members. The anti-corruption watchdog sought an extension in remand of Cheema. The court asked witnesses to appear in the next hearing after extending judicial remand of Ahad Cheema till November 28.
Meanwhile, an accountability court on Tuesday decided to indict Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani and other accused persons in an ongoing investigation of assets beyond known sources of income.
The hearing of the case was conducted in Karachi’s AC, in which Agha Siraj Durrani and co-accused were presented before the court. The court while ordering to separate Durrani’s wife, his son and daughters from the reference, ordered authorities concerned to initiate proceedings of the declaring the accused fugitive.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing of the case till December 3 and announced to indict speaker Sindh Assembly and other accused named in the reference on the same date. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stalwart has been in jail in a NAB reference about assets beyond known sources of income. Separately, an accountability court on Tuesday declared illegal land allotment reference against former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal and others as maintainable. The court rejected a plea moved by the accused against the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over illegal land allotment of plots in Clifton area of Karachi.
The court had deferred its order on the plea in a previous hearing moved by the defendants against the maintainability of the reference. The judge had fixed the pronouncement of the decision on November 19, directing all parties to be present during the next hearing.
After announcement of decision over the maintainability, the judge adjourned further hearing of the reference till December 4.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in its reference, has charged Mustafa Kamal of illegally allotting 137 plots on 5,500 acres of land near Sea View. He even gave permission to a private construction firm to construct a multi-storey building in the area, the bureau said.
