LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Tuesday passed the buck of issuing liquor licence to a hotel to the Excise and Taxation Department, saying he had no role in it.

In a four-page reply to the National Accountability Bureau’s 12-page questionnaire, Mr Buzdar chose to clarify his position regarding issuance of the liquor licence but no details about the properties of his and his relatives were provided to the bureau.

The chief minister is accused of receiving Rs50 million bribe to force the Excise and Taxation Department head to issue a liquor licence to an under-construction hotel in violation of the law. He is also facing charges of acquiring property, mostly in south Punjab, in the names of his relatives and others.

On his appearance before the bureau last week, Mr Buzdar had requested the anti-graft body to give him questions in writing so that he could file reply.

Mr Buzdar submitted his reply in the liquor case through his counsel. According to the reply, Mr Buzdar said: “I have done no illegal work. I have no role in the issuance of the liquor licence to the hotel in question. To issue liquor licences, the powers rested with the director general excise department. In Punjab, a total 11 liquor licences have been issued so far and nine of them issued by the director general excise and taxation department.”

The chief minister further said in 2000-01 the Punjab governor had issued liquor licences. With regard to allegation on him that he forced the Excise and Taxation former DG Akram Ashraf Gondal to issue the licence to the hotel in question, Buzdar said: “I returned the first summary put up to him by Mr Gondal regarding the issuance of the licence to the hotel for being not authorised to make a decision. However, he (Gondal) issued the licence and sent again the summary to the chief minister office. The principal secretary returned the summary again for not being the relevant forum.”

Later, he said the provincial excise minister suspended the liquor licence of the hotel but the Lahore High Court restored the licence. An appeal against the court’s decision had been pending, he added.

Usman Buzdar further said: “All allegations leveled against me in this case are false.”

On the other hand, Mr Gondal had submitted a written statement to the NAB alleging the chief minister office of pressuring him to issue the licence in violation of rules. The former DG excise had already consented to become an approver against Mr Buzdar.

On Tuesday, former principal secretary to Mr Buzdar, Dr Raheel Ahmed Siddiqui, appeared before the NAB investigators for the third time. The combined investigation team of the bureau questioned him for more than three hours about his and his former boss’ role in issuing the liquor licence.

The NAB has not given its reaction to Mr Buzdar’s reply.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2020