An accountability court on Thursday approved a nine-day physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Aleem Khan.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorities have been ordered to present the former minister on February 15. Abdul Aleem Khan, who stepped down as Punjab Minister for Local Government following his arrest on February 6, was presented before an accountability court.
Aleem was detained by the anti-corruption watchdog for owning assets beyond means and offshore companies.
According to a NAB spokesperson, the arrest was made in light of the Panamagate investigation, adding that the PTI leader misused his authority as a lawmaker for his Parkview Housing Society.
A probe was initiated into Aleem Khan’s offshore company on order of NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal after he was named in Panama Leaks in April 2016.
A thorough inquiry had been launched into shell entities situated in the British Virgin Islands and the accountability bureau had sought details of persons concerned from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Last year, the NAB had contacted the authorities in the United Kingdom to seek the details of assets owned by former Punjab’s senior minister for local government and community development Abdul Aleem Khan. The bureau had also received the record of his tax returns, remittances and bank transactions from the FBR and the central bank.
Published in Daily Times, February 8th 2019.
