LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has closed an 18-year-old inquiry against Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid leaders — Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi — in the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) plots case for want of evidence.

The Chaudhrys of Gujrat had been facing investigation since 2000 for allegedly influencing the LDA to exempt 21 kanals of land and 28 plots measuring 10 marla each to benefit their alleged front men. However, the bureau could not find any incriminating evidence against them.

Filing an application in the accountability court, Lahore, and requesting it to close the reference/case against the Chaudhry brothers and two others, NAB said that during the course of investigation “no incriminating material was found regarding the involvement of the accused persons in the alleged offence and source report cannot be relied upon as evidence against them”.

Shujaat, Pervaiz were accused of influencing LDA to benefit their front men

“The bureau could not find any concrete evidence, documentary or oral, which might substantiate the allegations against them.”

According to NAB, there was an allegation against Pervaiz Elahi and Shujaat Hussain that they in 2000 being ex-ministers illegally purchased the land already acquired by the LDA and then got exemption of 28 plots from LDA through Mirza Aslam Baig and Muhammad Nawaz. It was also alleged that the said act was done at their behest, it said.

“The NAB investigators thoroughly investigated these allegations and found them baseless. The source report which formed basis for this case contains names of Pervaiz Elahi, Shujaat Hussain and Muhammad Nawaz but during the course of investigation, no incriminating material was found against them.”

NAB chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal has recently directed the bureau officials to withdraw inquiries pending for years as these are causing losses to the national exchequer.

The Chaudhry brothers are also facing another 18-year-old case for “income beyond means” in the NAB Lahore. The bureau has yet to conclude it.

A NAB official told Dawn on Friday that the LDA case against the Chaudhry brothers had been closed after a thorough investigation, however, probe against them in income beyond means case (which has been pending since 2000) was under way. “No time frame to conclude this investigation can be given at this stage,” he replied to a question.

The Chaudhry brothers had appeared before the NAB Lahore and responded to its queries in this regard. This (income beyond means) case had been instituted against them by retired Gen Pervez Mush­arraf in the early 2000s after coming to power in the wake of the military coup.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi had said since this case had been pending for almost two decades they had provided most of the required records to NAB’s combined investigation team. He said then NAB chairman retired Lt Gen Khalid Maqbool had conceded that there was nothing in the case against them as it was instituted on political grounds.

During the Musharraf`s tenure in 2000, he said a NAB team had raided their house and even checked the sanitary fittings in bathrooms. “During the last 10 years, the Sharif brothers had resorted to every possible tactic against us and gotten our all financial matters examined thoroughly just to settle a score but they failed in their designs,” Mr Elahi said.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2019