LAHORE: An accountability court on Thursday sought arguments from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on an application for staying an auction of the assets owned by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a case of illegal allotment of plots to Jang Group editor-in-chief Mir Shakilur Rahman.

Yousaf Abbas and others filed the application through Advocate Qazi Misbahul Haq in the light of the new amendment in Section 5 of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

The counsel argued that after the new amendment, the case did not fall within the jurisdiction of NAB and the accountability court since the amount involved in the reference was less than Rs500m. He said the order passed by the court for the auction of the assets allegedly owned by the former prime minister could not be implemented since it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. He asked the court to immediately suspend its order for the auction.

The court issued a notice to NAB for its arguments on the application within a week.

The court had already acquitted Mr Rahman and two former officers of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) in the reference of 34-year-old illegal land allotment.

NAB alleged that Mr Rahman had illegally obtained exemption of 54 plots, each measuring one kanal, situated in Block-H, Johar Town.

It said the allotment of the land had been in connivance with the then chief minister Nawaz Sharif against the exemption policy and the laws for monetary gains.

It alleged the accused had caused a loss of Rs143.53m to national exchequer through allotment of the land in violation of exemption policy.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2022