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LAHORE, May 20: Nawaz Khokhar, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly, on Monday submitted an application in the accountability court that he was ready to return 150 kanals of land which he is alleged to have got transferred in his name.
The accused, being tried in a reference for alleged land fraud and evasion of land taxes, also submitted that he was ready to reimburse the land tax alleged to have been evaded. The amount may be calculated, he wrote in the application, and he would pay.
The accountability court sent his bargain plea to the NAB and fixed May 27 for its response.
ARREST: The Punjab NAB on Monday arrested Abid Baig Mirza on the charge of swindling workers fund in connivance with his son, serving in the Habib Bank.
He was remanded in NAB custody by an accountability court till June 4 for further investigation. His son, Zubair Baig Mirza, is already in the NAB custody.
The amount embezzled belonged to the Punjab Employees Social Security Institution. It was embezzled when Defence Savings Certificates worth Rs2.5 million were deposited in the Workers Welfare Fund in the Habib Bank’s Dharampura branch on maturity. The total amount was Rs3.6 million. Zubair Mirza introduced his father as labour department secretary and Workers Welfare Board chairman and opened his account in which the amount was transferred.
According to the NAB, the total amount, including the mark-up, is Rs5.78 million.
The NAB is also probing another fraud of issuing Muhafiz Travellers’ Cheques worth Rs2 million without observing rules and regulations by Shoaib Baig, another son of the accused, working with the National Bank’s Allama Iqbal Town branch.
—APP
