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

Smog hazard
Updated 05 Nov, 2024

Smog hazard

The catastrophe unfolding in Lahore is a product of authorities’ repeated failure to recognise environmental impact of rapid urbanisation.
Monetary policy
05 Nov, 2024

Monetary policy

IN an aggressive move, the State Bank on Monday reduced its key policy rate by a hefty 250bps to 15pc. This is the...
Cultural power
05 Nov, 2024

Cultural power

AS vital modes of communication, art and culture have the power to overcome social and international barriers....
Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.