ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to reconcile with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) the matter of Rs8.3 billion suspicious transactions in which the anti-graft watchdog had nominated former president Asif Ali Zardari as one of accused persons.

An IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq, while hearing a pre-arrest bail plea of the ex-president, noted that the allegations levelled by NAB pertained to the FBR and, therefore, the bureau should have forwarded this matter to the FBR before filing the case.

NAB’s additional prosecutor general Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana argued that the bureau had prepared the reference on the Supreme Court’s directive in the fake bank accounts case.

The defence counsel, Farooq H. Naek, argued before the court that NAB had dragged the ex-president in the case without any relevant provision of the National Accountability Ordinance. He said the allegation against his client was that he had purchased a property while holding a public office.

IHC hears arguments from both sides on pre-arrest bail plea of ex-president Zardari

The NAB prosecutor, however, argued that the ex-president had committed offences that fell well within the ambit of the accountability ordinance. He explained that Mr Zardari had in his wealth statement shown Rs53 million as the value of his property, whereas Rs150m had been paid for its purchase.

While the court reminded the prosecutor that this matter pertained to the FBR, the latter insisted that NAB could proceed against Mr Zardari even if the FBR’s matter was kept aside.

Advocate Naek claimed that since the case was based on transactions of two private parties, Mr Zardari had nothing to do with them. He contended that the former president had purchased some properties in a legitimate manner and it was also a private business deal.

According to the NAB reference, Mr Zardari could not provide proof of his claim that he had purchased his palatial house in Clifton through legal means, whereas accused Mushtaq Ahmed, who worked as a stenographer in the President House from 2009 to 2013, had allegedly provided Rs150m for construction of the house.

According to the reference, an illegal transaction of Rs8.3bn was carried out via Mushtaq Ahmed’s bank account with the money paid to Bahria Town.

A third accused in the case, Zain Malik, son-in-law of Bahria Town’s owner Malik Riaz, had earlier signed a plea bargain deal with NAB and deposited around Rs9bn in the national exchequer.

The same bench also took up seven identical petitions of former bureaucrats and top officials of autonomous bodies seeking acquittal in NAB references.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2021