An accountability court in Lahore on Tuesday accepted the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) request for 14-day physical remand of Raja Qamarul Islam — a PML-N candidate for the NA-59 seat — in Punjab Saaf Paani Company (PSPC) scam case.

Islam, along with the company’s ex-chief executive officer Wasim Ajmal, was arrested by NAB a day after the PML-N announced he would contest the election against Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in NA-59 (Rawalpindi).

The PML-N had objected to Islam's arrest, arguing that it could impact elections. Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while speaking in Islamabad earlier today after being cleared to contest elections, demanded that Islam be immediately released.

Terming the arrest "pre-poll rigging", he said that the act was contempt of the election itself. He requested the chief election commissioner as well as NAB chairman to take notice of the incident.

During the hearing, a NAB counsel told the court that Islam was accused of illegally granting contracts of 84 water filtration plants at inflated prices. Islam tampered with the costs in tender documents of the plants that had to be installed at Hasilpur, Manchanabad, Lodhran and Khanpur, he alleged.

He also said that the accused got the contracts of 102 plants approved from the the PSPC board of directors and made changes to the documents later.

Meanwhile, Ajmal was accused of severe violations of the Punjab Procurement Rules 2014 and ordering installation of 8 plants in Tehsil Dunyapur even though the area was not included in the initial contract.

Islam's lawyer rejected all allegations against his client and claimed that he was being subjected to political victimisation.

Islam criticised the treatment meted out to him by NAB during detention and claimed that he had in fact brought the bid price down to Rs980 million from Rs1.11 billion. Also denying charges, Ajmal claimed all contracts were awarded on merit.

The court has granted NAB the physical remand of both the accused till July 9.

Opinion

Editorial

Military convictions
Updated 22 Dec, 2024

Military convictions

Pakistan’s democracy, still finding its feet, cannot afford such compromises on core democratic values.
Need for talks
22 Dec, 2024

Need for talks

FOR a long time now, the country has been in the grip of relentless political uncertainty, featuring the...
Vulnerable vaccinators
22 Dec, 2024

Vulnerable vaccinators

THE campaign to eradicate polio from Pakistan cannot succeed unless the safety of vaccinators and security personnel...
Strange claim
Updated 21 Dec, 2024

Strange claim

In all likelihood, Pakistan and US will continue to be ‘frenemies'.
Media strangulation
Updated 21 Dec, 2024

Media strangulation

Administration must decide whether it wishes to be remembered as an enabler or an executioner of press freedom.
Israeli rampage
21 Dec, 2024

Israeli rampage

ALONG with the genocide in Gaza, Israel has embarked on a regional rampage, attacking Arab and Muslim states with...