PESHAWAR: An accountability court here on Tuesday adjourned till March 21 the trial of former federal minister, Dr Arbab Alamgir, and his spouse, Asma Alamgir, ex-MNA, who are accused of possessing illegal assets by the National Accountability Bureau.

The accountability judge, Ishtiaq Ahmad, has summoned four prosecution witnesses for the next date. An official of the court informed that the court had recorded statements of two of the prosecution witnesses.

A few days back the court had re-framed charges against the couple and had deleted a paragraph of the earlier indictment related to their alleged foreign properties as NAB had not produced any evidence in that respect.

The couple is facing trial for alleged possession of assets to the tune of Rs332 million, which the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claims are disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Asma Alamgir alleges victimisation by NAB

Strict security measures were adopted and police personnel were deputed in large number near the accountability courts here on Khyber Road.

Even the media persons were not permitted to enter the accountability court.

Meanwhile, Asma Alamgir, who was advisor to former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, told media persons that NAB had not produced any evidence against them and accused it of victimisation.

She said despite continuing a so-called inquiry against them by the NAB they could not find any wrong doings against them and filed a reference against them wherein their ancestral properties were mentioned.

She said NAB was not even clear about the salaries she and her husband had received as MNAs and added that their only crime was that they belonged to PPP.

Ms Alamgir questioned why NAB had not taken notice of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, which had turned into a nightmare for the people of Peshawar. She said the government was still dismantling portions of the BRT project and reconstructing the same as the project was ill planned and had inflicted loss on the exchequer.

She recalled that NAB had started the inquiry against them around four years ago and finally she had to move the Peshawar High Court for completion of the said inquiry. She added that the high court had ordered NAB to complete the inquiry and file the reference.

The former lawmaker alleged that the inquiries against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the helicopter case and former chief minister Pervez Khattak in Malam Jabba land auction case had been put into cold storage.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2019