ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday approved a fresh inquiry against Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif and summoned former planning and development minister Ahsan Iqbal in a separate case on Thursday.

The decision to initiate the inquiry against Mr Sharif was taken in NAB’s Executive Board Meeting (EBM), presided over by bureau’s chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal.

According to a NAB official, the fresh inquiry against opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif, who is also president of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), related to his alleged involvement in corruption in the Auqaf department when he was chief minister of Punjab.

Mr Sharif is also facing some other NAB cases.

PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal was summoned by NAB in a case relating to the establishment of Sports City in his hometown of Narowal. He is accused of utilising resources of the federal government and the Pakistan Sports Board for establishing sports facilities in his home town in Punjab.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Iqbal said that NAB had given him a questionnaire regarding the establishment of the Sports City in Narowal and he had replied to that, but he had been asked to submit another document which he would provide to the bureau on Thursday. “It is a false case,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, the EBM also approved the filing of two separate references against different accused, involving an amount of over Rs25 billion.

The first reference was approved against Dr Mohammad Amjad, head of a private housing scheme called Eden Housing Society, and his associates. They are accused of cheating people in the course of selling of plots of the society. The estimated loss borne by the people because of the scam was said to be Rs25bn.

The second reference will be filed in an accountability court against the owner of a private firm — Karim Karobar Company, Karachi — for selling substandard wheat at exorbitant rates, causing a loss of Rs80 million to the national exchequer.

The EBM authorised five investigations against the owners of a private firm — Nirala M.S.R Foods, Lahore —, officials of Mian Rashid Hussain Shaheed Memorial Hospital, officials of the Frontier Constabulary, the management of Metro Corpora­tion of Quetta and former secretary of mines and minerals of Balochistan Maqbol Ahmed.

The meeting also approved seven different inquiries against Shahbaz Sharif, former MPA of Punjab Mohsin Latif, MPA of Sindh Hassan Zardari, former deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly Sher Ali Gorchani, chief engineer of Pak-PWD, Gilgit-Baltistan, Rashid Ahmed, MPA of Punjab Mohammad Tahir Pervez, Kashif Sehbai and Ahsan Sehbai of Shaheen International and some officials of the Auqaf Department, Lahore Development Authority, Federal Board of Revenue Civil Aviation Authority and revenue department.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2019