ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday informed an accountability court (AC) that corruption reference against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal, in Narowal Sports City Complex Project (NSCCP) scam was in its final stage and would be filed soon before it.

The hearing was adjourned without any proceedings till Oct 20 as the accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir was on leave.

When an official of the court inquired from the NAB officials about filling of reference, they replied that the reference was in its final staged, and would soon be filled before the court.

During the previous hearing, the NAB prosecutor told the court that the NAB Rawalpindi had sent the final draft of the reference to the bureau headquarters for approval.

The anti-graft body would immediately file the reference before the court after approval, he further said.

Ahsan Iqbal was also present in the courtroom during the hearing. Iqbal told that during his detention, he told the NAB to do plea-bargain with him; otherwise, this case would become a joke.

You have not file any reference against sugar and flour mafia and have only turned your gun towards the opposition, he told the NAB officials.

Iqbal, while talking to the media later said NAB had failed to file reference because they had nothing against him.

The NAB was pressuring and harassing various government officials for recording statement against him, he said, adding that the NAB was constantly summoning government officials to make fake case against him.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s agenda was not stabilizing the country’s economy but just to victimize and take revenge from political opponents.

The ‘incompetent’ prime minister told the nation that be ready for gas crises, he said, adding that Imran Khan did not know that gas shortage would not only affect poor segment of the society but due to gas crises our industry would also suffer badly.

About government criticism that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s address to multi-parties conference (MPC) was aimed to appease Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that India was not getting appeased with Nawaz Sharif’s statement to the MPC but India was happy as Imran Khan had completely destroyed Pakistan’s economy during the last two years.

India is happy as due to the weakest and incompetent Imran Khan’s government it has been able to annex occupied Kashmir, he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020