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Tag: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

  • Abbasi apologises to nation for appointing NAB chief

    Abbasi apologises to nation for appointing NAB chief

    Former prime minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has apologised to the nation for having appointed Justice (r) Javed Iqbal as the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), The News reported.

    A jurist and professor of law, Iqbal has served as a senior justice of the Supreme Court (SC). He was appointed as the NAB chief on October 8, 2017, by then Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government led by Abbasi.

    “The name of NAB chairman had come from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the appointment was made with consensus,” the former premier said in an informal talk with media outside an accountability court Thursday.

    The PML-N leader said the “main aim of NAB was to break the PML-N” and questioned the bureau’s actions for having “instituted the case after arresting an ex-PM”.

    Abbasi said he was accused of using a vehicle of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the PM and had he knew about such allegations beforehand, he would have hired a tonga or taxi for reaching the PM Office.

    “NAB is conducting investigation against me and remand is also continuing for 55 days, but it doesn’t know anything about the case,” he said further.

    Earlier in the day, an accountability court extended the physical remand of former PM Abbasi and former finance adviser Miftah Ismail in the LNG case. Both the leaders were presented before the court that approved NAB’s plea for remand extension and asked it to present the suspects once again on September 26.

  • NAB deputy director, who arrested Zardari and Abbasi, ‘followed by suspicious car’

    NAB deputy director, who arrested Zardari and Abbasi, ‘followed by suspicious car’

    The vehicle of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi Deputy Director Asad Mehmood Janjua, who arrested former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, has been “chased by a suspicious car”.

    As per the details available with The Current, Islamabad police, in this regard, have lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against unknown people.

    According to the complaint lodged with the inspector general (IG) of the capital police by NAB officer Muhammad Saleem Khan, Janjua was driving back home after his official duty via Margalla Road when he noticed a suspicious car following him.

    “As he reached near F-9 Park at about 5:30 pm, he noticed a Toyota Vitz bearing registration number AAG-712 with tinted glasses following him. Feeling the situation, the NAB officer slowed down his car but the chaser kept on following. When he turned towards Marquees of E-11 on Margalla Road, the chaser also turned his vehicle and kept on following till he parked his car in front of a shop. The chaser hesitantly turned his car to a street, next to the shop,” the FIR read.

    The officer could not observe who was in the suspicious vehicle because of the tinted glasses. Suddenly, the suspicious vehicle disappeared from the scene, the complainant added, with the request to provide security to the NAB officer.

    The case has been filed at Islamabad’s Golra Shareef police station over the anti-corruption watchdog’s complaint against unidentified persons under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

    Other than Zardari and Abbasi, investigators said, Janjua had also arrested the former president’s sister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Faryal Talpur.

    Meanwhile, police have said that many activists of political parties could be rounded up with their top slot leadership, to hunt the chasers.

  • NAB arrests ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

    NAB arrests ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

    The National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) has arrested former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) scandal case.

    Abbasi is facing accusations of handing over a tender worth Rs220 billion to a company in which he himself was a shareholder. His name is also on the Exit Control List (ECL) so as to stop him from leaving the country.

    The arrest comes after the former premier skipped a NAB hearing pertaining to the case at the bureau’s Rawalpindi office.

    According to reports, Abbasi was due in Lahore for a press conference to be addressed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif at 4 pm. He, however, was intercepted on his way and taken into custody.

    “I received the NAB notice yesterday and it was not possible for me to appear before the bureau on such short notice,” he had stated in a letter to NAB earlier in the day. He had also reportedly sought three days from the anti-graft watchdog for appearance.

    The PML-N is yet to react to the arrest.