LAHORE: A duty judge of an accountability court on Saturday sought a progress report from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) about confiscation of assets owned by Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif’s daughter Rabia and son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf as they had been declared absconders in the Punjab Saaf Pani Company’s reference.

The judge adjourned further hearing till Aug 21 and also directed the bureau to ensure arrest of the absconders.

The other suspects in the reference including former Saaf Pani Company chairman Raja Qamarul Islam, also a former MPA of PML-N, and former chief executive officer Waseem Ajmal also appeared before the court.

In the reference, the NAB alleged that Mr Islam, being chairman of the company, committed corruption in the award of contracts of 84 water filtration plants at higher prices. It said the suspect got the contracts of 102 plants approved from the company’s board of directors and committed forgery in the documents.

The bureau accused Ajmal of violating procurement rules and permitting the installation of the water plants in Dunyapur beyond the scope of the project.

Both Islam and Ajmal were arrested by the NAB in June 2018 and were later released on bail granted by the Lahore High Court on Jan 30, 2019.

Islam claimed the NAB had arrested him one day after he was awarded ticket by the PML-N for 2018 election against former interior minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2021