LAHORE: The National Accoun-tability Bureau (NAB) has decided to request the accountability court to declare former prime minister Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender in the case of Jang Group’s Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakilur Rehman, according to reliable sources.

NAB has also issued arrest warrants for Mr Sharif for not joining investigations after he was summoned time and again to record his statement in the case.

The NAB investigators have also sent a questionnaire to Mr Sharif, asking him to record his statement but he has not appeared before the investigation team to record his statement.

Mr Sharif is in the United Kingdom for his medical treatment whereas Mr Rehman is in NAB custody on physical remand till April 28 and the Lahore High Court has dismissed two petitions against his arrest.

Former PM has failed to appear before probe team to record statement in Mir Shakilur Rehman case

NAB sent a questionnaire to the former prime minister summoning him to the bureau’s office on March 20 and 31 to record his statement but no response came from him.

Earlier, in a notice to Mr Sharif, NAB said: “The competent authority has taken the cognizance of offences allegedly committed by you and others under the provisions of NAO, 1999.

“The inquiry against Mir Shakilur Rehman, Ex-CM, Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, Officers/Officials of LDA & others has revealed that you as Chief Minster Punjab and Chairman LDA prima facie misused your authority and rendered undue benefit to co-accused Mir Shakilur Rehman by approving exemption of 54x plots measuring one kanal each in a single block (compact form) situated at canal bank H- Block of M.A. Jauhar Town, Lahore, vide summary dated 11.07.1986.

“In view, thereof, you are hereby called upon to appear before a combined investigation team (CIT), IW-II, at NAB complex, Thokar Niaz Beg, Lahore, on 31st March, 2020, at 11am to record your statement in response to questions asked vide questionnaire attached herewith.”

NAB arrested Mir Shakilur Rehman on March 12 in a 34-year-old case related to 54-kanal land he had allegedly acquired “illegally” during the tenure of the then chief minister of Punjab Nawaz Sharif.

In the case, Mr Rehman stated that the property in question had been bought from a private party and all evidence of this had been provided to NAB, including the legal requirements fulfilled like duty and taxes. No wrong had been committed in this regard, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2020