ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday filed corruption reference against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal in the Accountability Court in connection with Narowal Sports City Complex Project (NSCCP) scandal.

The country’s top anti-graft body had approved the NSCCP corruption reference against Iqbal in its Executive Board Meeting (EBM) on October 22.

The investigation officer (IO) of the case filed the reference at the registrar office of the Accountability Court.

According to the NAB’s reference, accused Iqbal had misused his powers in the NSCCP, and spend the federal government on the provincial project after 18th amendment, which incurred losses worth billions of rupees to the national exchequer.

The bureau has nominated Iqbal, former Director General (DG) Sport Board Akhtar Nawaz, Sarfaraz Rasool of Pakistan Sport Board, Asif Sheikh, and a private contractor, Muhammad Ahmed, in the reference.

According to the NAB, the record collected so far revealed that instead of getting approval of the Central Development Working Party, the scope of the NSCCP was substantially altered; Iqbal accorded approval on his own, and approved the same with malafide intentions without taking the matter before the CDWP.

The NAB says that the NSCCP was initiated without any feasibility study in violation of the Planning Commission Development Manual regarding feasibility of new developmental projects.

It was necessary to prepare feasibility study of projects costing more than Rs50 million, and Iqbal enhanced the scope with malafide intention by directing the design consultants of the NSCCP.

“Later on, revised PC-1 costing Rs2,498.779 million was prepared and scope was enhanced manifolds and subsequently it was approved by [the] CDWP headed by Iqbal on July 17, 2014. Likewise, the second revised PC-1 costing Rs2,994.329 million was prepared and was approved by [the] CDWP on May 3, 2017,” it said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020