Ali Imran was supposed to record statement in Saaf Pani Company corruption case. PHOTO: REUTERS
Ali had been summoned to appear before a combined investigation team (CIT) on Monday to record his statement in the Saaf Pani Company corruption case.
An investigation officer told The Express Tribune that Ali appeared before the bureau only once, on April 24. During his appearance, Ali had failed to answer the queries regarding transfer of Rs120 million to him from accused Ikram Naveed, he added.
NAB probes ‘multi-million rupee’ housing scam
Ali had claimed that he provided evidences regarding the amount, but contrary to his claims, he could not provide any relevant documents or agreements of sale and purchase of property with Naveed, the officer stated.
The officer further claimed that Ali had requested NAB to grant him further time till May 3 to present the documents substantiating his claim. However, he did not appear before the bureau on the day, he added.
Subsequently, Ali was issued two further notices on May 7 and May 21, he said, adding that despite repeated notices, he did not answer some specific queries and chose not to provide the relevant record to NAB.
So far, the officer added, the evidences gathered by NAB showed that the amount of Rs120 was transferred to Ali’s personal as well as company accounts, and the transfer of amount could not be termed as ‘normal business transactions’.
The pay orders given to him clearly mentioned that the amount was being transferred from government accounts and not from personal accounts of Naveed, he added.
Furthermore, Ali rented out one floor (3rd floor) to the Saaf Pani Company while the floor had already been sold to Naveed, he said.
The officer said a future line of action according to NAB laws would be decided in an executive board meeting.
The Saaf Pani Company was established by the government of Punjab to execute its plan to provide safe drinking water to people throughout the province. Despite spending millions of rupees, the company failed to provide even a single drop of water.
The chief justice of Pakistan had taken suo motu notice of the case regarding provision of clean drinking water. During the hearing, some startling facts regarding the appointments, perks and privileges, and performance of the company had come to the fore.
NAB does not believe in vindictive actions, says Javed Iqbal
NAB has been investigating into the matter. Besides inquiring different people, including MNA Hamza Shahbaz Sharif (Ali’s brother-in-law), the anti-graft watchdog has also arrested four accused persons in the case.
Ali is not the only one in the Sharif family to ignore NAB summons as former prime minister Nawaz Sharif did not either appear before the anti-graft body despite two summons in the Raiwind Road corruption case.
The first notice was served in April but Sharif did not show up as he had flown to London to meet his ailing wife, Kulsoom Nawaz.
In the second summon, he was asked to appear before NAB on May 20, but he did not show up despite being in Jati Umra.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ