Punjab govt sends notice to Nawaz for payment of Rs10 million outstanding dues

CM Buzdar says PTI govt committed to save every public penny

LAHORE: The Punjab government on Thursday said that it has sent former prime minister Nawaz Sharif a notice to pay liabilities worth Rs10 million after his friends used the Punjab House in the federal capital.

Similar notices have been sent to five other lawmakers — both past and current — of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to pay their dues for using the property as it seeks to recover around Rs63.7 million from political bigwigs of the past regime.

This was disclosed by Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar in a news conference in Lahore on Thursday.



Buzdar said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was committed to protecting each and every penny of the public, adding that those who have illegally benefitted through the abuse of their official positions will have to pay back every penny they had allegedly usurped.

He added that as part of their ongoing anti-encroachment drive across the province, they had kicked out illegal occupants from the Punjab House in the federal capital by cancelling their bookings. Senior PML-N figures, Buzdar disclosed, were sent notices for paying outstanding liabilities.

These include a Rs4 million bill owed by PML-N Senator Dr Asif Kirmani, Rs9.6 million owed by former federal information minister Senator Pervaiz Rasheed, Rs3.9 million owed by former advocate general Mustafa Ramday, Rs2.3 million against former federal information technology minister Anusha Rehman, former climate change minister Senator Mushahid Ullah, Rs2.4 million against Zubair Gull and the bill owed by Nawaz.



Responding to a question, Buzdar said that pending dues of the Punjab House will be recovered from all defaulters since it was the public’s money. “They will have to pay back this money. Indiscriminate action is going on against corruption in Punjab,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2018.