LAHORE: An accountability court on Friday granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) a ten days physical remand of former director general of Punjab excise & taxation Department Akram Ashraf Gondal a co-accused of Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar, in the liquor licence case.

The court directed the NAB to produce him against on September 28. Earlier, NAB special prosecutor said that Gondal, misused his authority and illegally granted L-2 category licence to a private hotel beyond the eligibility criteria.

He said the suspect also benefited the hotel by obtaining no objection certificates (NOCs) from different departments. He said the hotel, which is being established adjacent to the Lahore airport, secured a NOC from the civil aviation authority after a refusal from the cantonment board.

A defence counsel on behalf of the former DG told the court that the licence was conditionally issued on January 9, 2019 and later cancelled on June 28. He said an appeal by the hotel against the cancellation of the licence was still pending before the Lahore High Court.

The counsel said his client superannuated one year ago after a spotless career in the government service. He said Gondal extended his full cooperation to the NAB in its investigation and there was no need to keep in custody.

To a court query, the prosecutor said there were only nine liquor licences in Punjab and the last one was issued 20 years ago. The court expressed its surprise as Gondal revealed more than 200 such licences had been issued in Sindh province.

On another court query Gondal said the population of minority communities in Sindh was more than Punjab. The NAB also accused Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar of taking Rs 50 million as bribe to force the excise and taxation department to issue the licence to an under-construction hotel.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020