NAB withdraws old corruption charges against Chaudhrys

ISLAMABAD: After reconciliation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is withdrawing corruption charges against Pakistan Muslim League-q ( PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.

The NAB has filed a reference before an accountability court of Lahore seeking final approval to close two inquiries initiated 20 years ago against the Chaudhrys.

In January, the NAB told the Lahore High Court (LHC) that the inquiries had been closed for want of evidence.

The first inquiry against the families of Hussain and Elahi was related to the allegations of acquiring illegal assets. The second was against Elahi accusing him of making illegal appointments in local government departments. A third on charges of loan default against the duo had already been closed.

The reference filed by NAB Lahore Director General Shahzad Saleem stated that the investigating officer recommended that the inquiries against Hussain and Elahi be closed as no trial-worthy material or evidence surfaced during the course of investigation. It said the NAB chairman had already recommended the closure of the inquiries in light of investigating officer’s reports.

The court would resume hearing on April 26 when NAB Special Prosecutor Asadullah Awan would advance his arguments in favour of the closure of the inquiries.

The Chaudhry brothers had challenged the inquiries against them before the LHC alleging that the NAB had been used for political engineering.

At a hearing in December, the court had expressed concern over the pendency of the inquiries for 20 years and ordered the NAB to conclude them within four weeks.

The PML-Q leaders had pleaded that all the inquiries against them had been recommended for closure by the investigating officers and the NAB regional board during 2017 and 2018.