The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has sought from the Punjab Excise and Taxation Department details of purchase and sale of vehicles “in the name of” 22 members of former prime minister Imran Khan’s cabinet as part of its investigation in the Al Qadir Trust case.
The Al Qadir Trust case alleges that the ex-premier and his wife, Bushra Bibi, obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the UK during the previous PTI government.
In connection with the case, NAB issued a letter to the provincial excise department, stating that the bureau’s Rawalpindi office was “conducting an investigation against the subject of persons on the allegations of corruption and corrupt practices under the provisions of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999”.
“In view thereof, you are requested to provide the details/ copies of certified documents of any vehicles’ sales/purchase during the period of Jan 2018 till date in the name of the following persons by June 20, 2023” before the NAB’s combined investigation team in Islamabad, the letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, read.
NAB has sought details about the sale or purchase of vehicles in the name of the following persons under Section 19 (power to call for information) of the NAB Ordinance.
- Asad Umar
- Shireen Mazari
- Pervez Khattak
- Fawad Chaudhry
- Hammad Azhar
- Azam Khan Swati
- Sheikh Rashid Ahmad
- Zaheeruddin Babar Awan
- Omar Ayub Khan
- Shafqat Mahmood
- Faisal Vawda
- Murad Saeed
- Ali Amin Khan Gandapur
- Syed Ali Haider Zaidi
- Khusro Bakhtiar
- Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui
- Ghulam Sarwar Khan
- Zubaida Jalal
- Ijaz Ahmad Shah
- Muhammad Farogh Naseem
- Muhammad Soomro
- Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan
NAB spokesperson Kashif Zaman told Dawn.com that the letter was issued a few days ago but did not specify the exact date.
Previous developments in the case
The case shot into the spotlight when PTI chief Imran Khan was whisked away from the Islamabad High Court premises by paramilitary forces in the graft case on May 9.
His arrest sparked countrywide protest across the country, during which several public and private properties, including military installations, were vandalised.
The PTI chief had immediately approached the IHC for his release, but the high court had declared his arrest legal.
He had then approached the Supreme Court, which on May 11, termed his arrest “invalid and unlawful” and directed him to appear before the IHC the next day.
Subsequently, the IHC had granted him bail in the case for two weeks and later, an Islamabad accountability court had granted the former premier bail till June 19 against surety bonds worth Rs500,000.
NAB has also summoned Bushra Bibi for investigation in the Al Qadir Trust case on June 7.
Meanwhile, Fawad, who served as the information minister and science and technology minister during the previous PTI government and has recently left the party, has claimed he did not have any knowledge of the matter.
When questioned by the NAB, he said he had not seen an “agreement” being presented before the cabinet in a sealed envelope.
Similarly, Rashid — the Awami Muslim League chief who is also an ally of the PTI — has said he had not attended “that cabinet meeting”, where the Al-Qadir Trust case deal was approved.
Moreover, former federal minister Faisal Vawda has claimed that ex-Inter-Services Intelligence chief Faiz Hameed was the “architect” and the mastermind in the corruption case.
“My compulsion today was to tell the nation that when you say the beneficiary is Imran, […] the biggest is Faiz Hameed,” he had said while speaking to the media last month.
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