ISLAMABAD: Another opposition leader and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwart Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday in a case related to assets beyond his known sources of income.

MNA Shah was arrested at his residence in Islamabad in a joint operation conducted by NAB’s Sukkur and Rawalpindi teams.

According to a bureau source, Mr Shah was arrested for having assets beyond means and would be presented before a NAB court in Sukkur on Thursday.

The opposition party leader was accused of getting an amenity plot in a housing society. The anti-graft watchdog claimed that he also had some benami properties in the name of his frontmen or servants. According to NAB, an inquiry against Mr Shah revealed his involvement in the commission of offences as defined under Section 9(a) and Schedule of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.

Opposition PPP leader to be produced in Sukkur NAB court today

Before his arrest, many other opposition leaders including former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail, Maryam Nawaz, incumbent leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz have been taken into custody on graft allegations.

Just a day before his arrest Mr Shah had demanded removal of the prime minister for having failed to run the country and supported the joint opposition’s call for lockdown of Islamabad next month. He said, “The tradition of lockdown was set by Prime Minister Imran Khan”.

According to NAB, Mr Shah was summoned by Sukkur NAB office on Wednesday in the cases but he had informed the bureau in writing that he could not appear before the bureau’s investigators in Sukkur due to some engagements in Islamabad. Apprehending absconding of the lawmaker and that the benamidars might not reveal ‘true facts’ if he is not arrested, the bureau issued warrants for his arrest and subsequently took him into custody during a joint raid on his residence in Islamabad.

According to NAB, the lawmaker being a public office-holder got transferred an amenity plot at Professors’ Cooperative Housing Society, Sukkur, in the name of his family to build a house and the money spent on its construction did not commensurate with his known sources of income and those of his dependents.

The bureau claimed that a complainant had levelled numerous other serious allegations regarding accumulation of illegal assets by Mr Shah and categorically mentioned benamidars with their details.

Meanwhile, NAB chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal while presiding over a meeting in the NAB headquarters on Wednesday said the bureau was utilizing all its energies against corrupt elements. He said elimination of corruption was the top most priority of the watchdog.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019