LAHORE: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal has ordered ‘swift completion’ of probe against Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Federal Minister Khusro Bakhtiar, four Punjab ministers and others in different cases on merit.

On his visit to the Lahore bureau here on Tuesday, the chairman was briefed by its Director General Shahzad Saleem on the investigations against Mr Buzdar in the liquor case, income beyond means case against Mr Bakhtiar and his younger brother provincial minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, progress in filing reference against provincial ministers Aleem Khan and Sabtain Khan for possessing assets beyond means, and award of unlawful contract for extracting precious minerals in Chiniot, respectively.

Both Aleem Khan and Sabtain Khan are on bail while investigation against Khusro Bakhtiar and Hashim Jawan Bakht in possessing assets beyond their known sources of income has yet to be completed. A source told Dawn that the bureau initiated a probe against the two ‘influentialbrothers’ from the south Punjab after the State Bank reported their ‘irregular transactions’ and also on the court’s order.

Similarly, CM Buzdar is facing at least two investigations — allegations 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 and awarding the Gateway-II Thokar Niaz Baig project to his ‘favourite contractor’. Since Mr Buzdar has been facing a NAB probe, opposition PML-N has demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan to replace him till the name of his ‘Wasim Akram-plus’ is cleared by the top investigation agency.

The NAB chairman was also briefed about another case of Punjab Minister Ansar Majeed Niazi for his alleged involvement in corrupt practices in appointments and transfers/postings in the Punjab Employees Social Security Institution, ruling PTI MNA Karamat Khokhar and MPA Ghazanfar Abbas Cheena in income beyond means cases.

The investigations against former Lahore DCO Noorul Amin Mengal, former LDA Director General Ahad Cheema and officers of Revenue Department for allegedly changing Lahore’s Master Plan, and money laundering reference against PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif and his family members, were also discussed.

Directing the Lahore bureau office to complete the ongoing investigation in these cases swiftly on merit, the NAB chief said: “NAB is a prime national investigation agency and it has nothing to do with politics as its commitment and dedication is for the nation and the country.”

Justice Iqbal said it was NAB’s resolve to bring all corrupt elements and their cases to a logical end and also recover looted money (from such elements). “The corrupt elements to be tackled with iron hands.”

The chairman further said the NAB had recovered Rs466bn from corrupt elements in different cases so far and the same had been deposited with the national exchequer.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2020