Accountability court in Islamabad issues non-bailable warrants against ex-PM Shaukat Aziz

E-Paper | March 17, 2026

An accountability court in Islamabad has issued non-bailable warrants for former prime minister Shaukat Aziz in a reference filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over alleged misuse of power during his tenure as premier of the country.

Accountability court Judge Arshad Malik issued the warrants against the former premier following his continued absence in the case's proceedings.

Former Sindh chief minister Liaquat Jatoi, former federal secretary Ismail Qureshi, former Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) chairman retired Air Marshal Shahid Hamid, and former AEDB secretary Brig Dr Nasim Akhtar Khan are also named in the case. Their requests to be excused for the today’s hearing were approved.

However, the court expressed great displeasure at the absence of others named in the reference.

Also read: Shaukat Aziz silent abroad

The hearing of the case was postponed until November 1.

Aziz, who served as the prime minister for three-and-a-half years, currently resides in the United States.

NAB had filed a reference against the former premier and others for illegally appointing Basharat Hassan Bashir as a consultant for the AEDB in an alleged violation of rules, reportedly resulting in losses up to Rs21 million.

According to NAB, the process of complaint verification, inquiry and investigation has been completed against the former prime minister after he was found guilty.

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Ahsan Gul

Oct 11, 2018 07:20pm

What is wrong with any of our leaders. They all are dishonest and greedy.

Recommend 0

M. Saeed

Oct 11, 2018 07:32pm

Can someone ask the former President who assumed the power as de facto chief executive of the country and appointed several Prime Ministers like Shaukat Aziz at his own will? He has already passed the immunity period that bars him from prosecution for 2 years.

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Neo

Oct 11, 2018 07:51pm

Shukat Aziz has given commendable service to Pakistan as Finance Minister. If he continued Pakistan would not be in the financial mess it is in now as he put the country on right track thanks to his expertise. Sadly the following two govts ruined all the good work done.

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Falcon1

Oct 11, 2018 07:56pm

Very odd, the way Pakistani legal system is working,. All the arrest warrants are being issued agains former officials who are all residing abroad, with dual nationalities or only foreign citizenship. Hence, little chance of them being handed over to Pakistani government by foreign nations. As has been learned in the case of Haqqani and Altaf Hussan, Baber Ghauri etc. Yet, there are dozens of ultra corrupt politicians roaming freely within Pakistan, with no restrictions on their travels and not being detained. What are we to expect after these also flee to their nest abroad? Warrant for their arrests too when they are comfortably secured thousands of miles away?? The urgency to hold people accountable seems to be sliding only towards history, not the present.

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Anti-Corruption_Pakistani

Oct 11, 2018 08:08pm

Law should be same for all, no matter who they are - all politicians and citizens must obey the law if the country, whether they are ex PM's, or poor men. Will Shukat Aziz appear in the court or like others, he will make excuses? Time will tell!

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Saif Zulfiqar

Oct 11, 2018 08:10pm

@Neo, he gave the wrong advice to Musharaff about he denationalisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills and finally the Musharaff was blamed for the loses.

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Life

Oct 11, 2018 08:15pm

He is as immune as the ex-President Musharraf.

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shak

Oct 11, 2018 08:28pm

please pay attention to current affairs, you wouldn't get anything out of past roberries

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fairplay

Oct 11, 2018 09:19pm

@M. Saeed i dont think NAB has a two-year limit.

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fairplay

Oct 11, 2018 09:23pm

@M. Saeed then why hide abroad, citing security concerns?

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Ash2000

Oct 11, 2018 09:45pm

Waste of time and money. 21 million loss and NAB probably already spent more than 100 million on this case sand still won’t have enough proofs to prosecute anybody. Also case is more than a decade old.

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Sameer

Oct 11, 2018 10:14pm

Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz poisoned us with NRO. They should be dealt with accordingly.

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Big John

Oct 11, 2018 10:17pm

@Falcon1 ---- Pakistanis legal system can be twisted in any direction. Imran is using Pakistan's weak legal system to his advantage and against the most greedy of the elite.

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Javed qamer Washington DC

Oct 11, 2018 10:27pm

Mr. shaukat Aziz is not a corrupt person. If he appointed a qualified person Mr. Basharat so whats the big deal. No corruption charges have been proved against Mr. Basharat. The only complaint is that he was appointed without consultation. Mr. Aziz helped Pakistan in its hour of need. No loans were taken from IMF during his term. If you harass Mr. Aziz then No other Pakistani in a foreign country will step up to help Pakistan.

Recommend 0

فکرمند The worried one

Oct 12, 2018 12:01am

Go get him. The guy is a crock.

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فکرمند The worried one

Oct 12, 2018 12:47am

@Neo as a seasoned banker, this guy knew that he can play with others money without any remification. He was given a wrong task and he failed the nation with dire consequences - meanwhile he is becoming richer and the nation has been becoming poorer because of the actions he took when he was part of the government.

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Fazal Karim

Oct 12, 2018 01:50am

Government will come to halt if a Prime Minister is called to court in petty matters.

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Magnanimous approach

Oct 12, 2018 04:59am

The loss described as Rs 21mn not $21mn. The blame is an appointment in violation.of so- called rules. What about NRO was that not a violation of law, don’t forget if a General is a President, his word is rule, may be Shaukat Aziz took approval from President before that appointment, does the sky fallen. The amazing fact is that two parties ruled for 10 years after sweet NRO, but they found other violations as bitter, because they were not benefiting them. Please there should be one scale to gauge right or wrong. But we are gauging other violation with different scale. The case has no legal foundation, hence ab initio null & void.

Recommend 0

Neo

Oct 12, 2018 06:51am

@فکرمند The worried one. Get him and give him a job in Finance ministry.

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Dost

Oct 12, 2018 07:36am

It's happens only Pakistan every leader after completing his tenure settles abroad either in USA or UK. they just loves Pakistan and steay healthy until they are in power.

Recommend 0

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