LAHORE: Former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday challenged the summons of the National Accountability Bureau in the Lahore High Court in alleged illegal recruitment in the Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco).

In a petition filed through Advocate Iftikhar Shahid, the former premier said the NAB action was a result of ‘political victimisation’ at the behest of the ruling PML-N.

He said being minister for water and power he never influenced the appointments. He said the NAB had been playing at the hands of PML-N leadership and subjecting PPP leaders to political victimisation.

Mr Ashraf said he asked the NAB officers to furnish him details of the allegations but the bureau kept issuing him summons without disclosing any reason. “How can NAB issue a notice without explaining the detail of the charges it has against the former prime minister,” the petition questioned.

The former prime minister pleaded that he was being dragged into the scandal on baseless grounds requesting the court to set aside the notices/summons issued by the NAB for being illegal.

A division bench of the LHC is likely to take up the petition on Wednesday (today).

The NAB has already arrested Tahir Basharat Cheema, ex-CEO Ibrahim Majoka, and former HR director Gepco Hashmat Ali Kazmi on allegations of ‘misuse of authority’. They are on physical remand in the NAB custody.

Mr Cheema has been undergoing treatment in Punjab Institute of Cardiology for heart complications.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2016