NAB requests security arrangements ahead of Bilawal, Zardari's appearance before probe team

Published March 19, 2019
Former president Asif Ali Zardari (R) and his son PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. — DawnNewsTV/File
Former president Asif Ali Zardari (R) and his son PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. — DawnNewsTV/File

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday wrote to the Islamabad chief commissioner and the capital police chief requesting security arrangments ahead of former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's appearance before a Combine Investigation Team (CIT).

The letter written by NAB Additional Director (Staff) Muhammad Saleem Ahmed Khan to the capital authorities said "it is intimated" that Zardari and Bilawal would appear before the CIT on March 20 (tomorrow).

It said the PPP leaders are to appear "in connection with [an] investigation regarding Fake Bank Accounts Scam."

In that regard, the letter requested that "necessary security arrangments" be made at the NAB headquarters in Islamabad as well as at NAB Rawalpindi.

On Saturday, a spokesperson for NAB had told DawnNewsTV that the bureau had summoned Bilawal and Zardari to appear before it in Rawalpindi in connection with the Park Lane Estate case.

However, the letter written by the NAB official to Islamabad authorities today only mentioned the "Fake Bank Accounts Scam".

When asked for a clarification, NAB sources only said the notices sent to the father-son duo had "mentioned why they were being summoned".

NAB had initiated an inquiry against the two PPP leaders in pursuance of allegations that the Park Lane Estate Company (Pvt) Ltd — a Karachi-based real estate firm co-owned by Zardari and Bilawal — along with government officials was behind the illegal transfer of 118.4 kanals of forest land to the firm.

Earlier today, the Sindh High Court had granted Zardari a 10-day protective bail in the Park Lane Estate Company case after hearing a petition by the former president which said that he feared arrest by NAB.

Opinion

Editorial

IMF’s unease
Updated 24 May, 2024

IMF’s unease

It is clear that the next phase of economic stabilisation will be very tough for most of the population.
Belated recognition
24 May, 2024

Belated recognition

WITH Wednesday’s announcement by three European states that they intend to recognise Palestine as a state later...
App for GBV survivors
24 May, 2024

App for GBV survivors

GENDER-based violence is caught between two worlds: one sees it as a crime, the other as ‘convention’. The ...
Energy inflation
Updated 23 May, 2024

Energy inflation

The widening gap between the haves and have-nots is already tearing apart Pakistan’s social fabric.
Culture of violence
23 May, 2024

Culture of violence

WHILE political differences are part of the democratic process, there can be no justification for such disagreements...
Flooding threats
23 May, 2024

Flooding threats

WITH temperatures in GB and KP forecasted to be four to six degrees higher than normal this week, the threat of...