NAB files fresh graft case against Nawaz

Lahore, June 27: Pakistan’s anti-graft body has filed a fresh corruption case against deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and three others for their alleged involvement in the illegal allotment of land in Punjab province about 34 years ago.

An arrest warrant has been issued against the 70year-old embattled threetime premier and supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) who is in London for treatment. Several corruption cases have been filed by the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan against Sharif since he was disqualified as prime minister in 2017 by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case.

The NAB said that it has approached an anti-corruption court to declare Sharif a proclaimed offender since he did not respond to any of its summons in the land allotment case.

The three other accused who have been named in the case filed by the NAB are Jang/Geo media group owner Mir Shakilur Rahman, former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director Humayun Faiz Rasool and former director (land) Mian Bashir.

In 1986, when he was the Punjab chief minister, Sharif had allegedly allotted 54-‘kanal’ (canal) land in Lahore to Rehman in violation of rules. Rahman, who was arrested on March 12, is on judicial remand. In the case, Sharif and the two officers were accused of the misuse of authority in allotting the precious land along the canal to Rahman in violation of the rules.

On May 29, an accountability court in Islamabad issued an arrest warrant against Sharif for failing to appear before it in a corruption case that accused him of receiving luxury vehicles and gifts from foreign dignitaries, which were property of the state.