ISLAMABAD: Senate Deputy Chairperson Saleem Mandviwalla on Thursday appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a case pertaining to multi-billion rupees fake bank accounts.

Mandviwalla appeared before the combined investigation team (CIT) of the NAB headed by Director General (DG) Rawalpindi Irfan Mangi, and recorded his statement regarding illegal allotment of plots case of the Overseas Cooperative Housing Society Ltd (Kidney Hill), and its payment from fake bank accounts.

Sources said that the CIT questioned Mandviwalla about allotment of plots, and his relations with former managing director of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Overseas Cooperative Society Chairperson Ijaz Haroon, who had already been arrested by the NAB in the same case.

The Senate deputy chairman, while talking to the media, after appearing before the NAB team, said that the bureau had summoned him with respect to plots sold by Haroon. These were all private plots and private transactions, he said.

He said that Haroon's father was my father's friend.

We have family relations and it has nothing to do with the government, he said.

I have not been given any questionnaire today but earlier the bureau handed him over a questionnaire to which I have submitted a reply, he said.

To a question about amendment in the NAB laws, he said that efforts had been made to amend the NAB laws.

Amendment to the NAB laws will be made with consultation with all the political parties, he said. He said that the NAB should conduct corruption inquiries but it had started following businessmen, which was badly affecting business.

The NAB's involvement in private transactions should be minimal, and it should focus more on government affairs, he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020