Bogus appointments: LHC refuses to cancel NAB summons

LAHORE: Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday turned down a request by former prime minister Raja Parvez Ashraf to set aside summons issued for him by the National Accountability Bureau. However, the court directed the bureau not to take any illegal action against Ashraf. The judge remarked that NAB could not be stopped from holding an inquiry into alleged bogus appointments in two electricity supply companies. The judge sought replies from the NAB in three weeks.

Ashraf had filed the petition through Advocate Iftikhar Shahid, stating that the NAB action was an instance of political victimisation. “Being minster for water and power, I never influenced the appointments in the sector. The NAB is playing in the hands of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership and subjecting Pakistan People’s Party leaders to political victimisation,” Ashraf says in the petition. “I have asked NAB officers to provide me details of the allegations against me, but they have not done so. Instead, they have been issuing summons,” he says. The former PM states that he is being dragged into a scandal without there being any evidence against him. He has requested the court to set aside the notices/summons issued by the NAB for being illegal.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2016.