Nawaz to be declared absconder in another case

An accountability court in Lahore on Thursday decided to start proceedings to declare former prime minister Nawaz Sharif an absconder in an illegal land allotment case involving Jang/Geo owner Mir Shakilur Rehman.

During the hearing of the case presided by Judge Asad Ali, a report on Sharif’s non-bailable arrest warrant sent by the country's high commission in London was also presented. The report stated that the accused had yet to receive the arrest warrant.

The court called for a progress report on declaring former premier a fugitive at the next hearing, and extended Shakil’s judicial remand by 14 days.

According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor, Shakil had illegally acquired 54 plots, each measuring one kanal, along with two streets, in Lahore’s Johar Town in 1986 in connivance with the then Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif.

Under Lahore Development Authority (LDA) rules, an exemption could be granted for 15 plots only. However, 54 plots were exempted in a single block on Nawaz's approval. Under the exemption policy, 70 per cent of the land was supposed to remain with the LDA but it was never transferred.

Shakil was taken into custody at the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Lahore office in March this year after he had failed to give satisfactory answers to its 26-point questionnaire about the purchase of the land.

In June, NAB filed a reference in the accountability court against Shakil and Sharif.

It also nominated former director general of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Humayun Faiz, and Mian Bashir Ahmad.

The PML-N supreme leader was declared a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana reference last month and had refused to receive the arrest warrant issued against him.