PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
A source privy to the meeting said that the discussion mostly rotated around the amount of Rs31 billion recovered by NAB Lahore since the time Justice Iqbal took charge of office.
The anti-corruption watchdog examined possibilities to bring Sharif family members on the table for plea bargain and ascertained ways for access to grill persons like Salman Shahbaz, Abdul Aziz and others who looked after the financial matters of the family and had managed to flee abroad.
The cases that remained under discussion included investigation against former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, his sons Hamza Shahbaz and Salman Shahbaz and others for allegedly accumulating assets beyond means - inquiry against Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, Yousuf Abbas, Abdul Aziz and others in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case for alleged involvement in money laundering - investigation against ex-chief financial officer (CFO) Ikram Naveed and Shehbaz Sharif’s son-in-law Imran Ali Yousuf in Punjab Power Development Company (PPDC) case for allegedly accumulating assets beyond known sources of income - investigation against former finance minister Ishaq Dar for allegedly making un-accounted assets beyond means - inquiry against Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif in expansion of Raiwind Road case and inquiry against Nawaz Sharif for illegal allotment of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) plots to blue-eyed persons.
The accused arrested by anti-graft buster in these cases did not directly look after the financial matters. Instead, the affairs were managed by Salman and Abdul Aziz.
Abdul Aziz along with Yousuf Abbas were offloaded from an international flight, while Mushtaq Cheeni, an alleged front man of Hamza Shehbaz and his brother Salman, who later turned an approver, had been arrested from the airport during an attempt to leave the country.
As Nawaz, Shehbaz and Maryam had said before NAB during investigations that they knew nothing about the money matters, the anti-corruption watchdog decided to shift its focus on figures that looked after the financial affairs.
NAB also discussed the recovery of Rs71 billion of which Rs31 billion were recovered by NAB Lahore alone since the time Justice Javed Iqbal took charge.
The meeting decided to dispel the impression that NAB did not recover any amount from the accused in mega corruption scandals.
The meeting was informed that Rs500 million had been recovered from the accounts of Ishaq Dar and the money had been handed over to the provincial government.
It was further told that NAB had succeeded in taking possession of a 4-kanal house of the accused in Gulberg Lahore.
Justice Iqbal said that NAB Lahore had recovered properties worth Rs1 billion from Ikram Naveed in Punjab Power Development Company case and had handed over them to the Government of Punjab and Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (ERRA).
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