ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif did not appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Rawalpindi Metro project contract case and filed his written reply through his counsel on Tuesday.

The NAB Rawalpindi had summoned Sharif to appear before it for recording his statement in a case pertaining to the award of contract in Rawalpindi Metro project to the brother of PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PEPRA) rules.

The PML-N senior leader and Sharif's counsel Atta Tarar along with PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb filed a written reply before the anti-graft body.

Talking to reporters outside the NAB office, the PML-N spokesperson and Tarar said the "incompetent" government was making "baseless and fake" cases against the opposition leader.

They said the NAB issued summons to Sharif on August 24 but we did not receive any call off notice. They said that "we have submitted a written reply before the NAB in the presence of the police."

Sharif was the chief minister of the Punjab in 2014 and launched different development projects. Sharif remained chief minister for 10 years and executed many projects, he said.

The PML-N leaders said the chairman NAB closed his eyes on the corruption in Peshawar Metro bus project and corruption of leaders of the "incompetent" government.

The motto of the NAB is not "Corruption-free Pakistan" rather a political witch-hunt minus Imran Khan, they said. The PML-N leaders said that according to the Lahore High Court (LHC) written judgment, the NAB did not prove any corruption.

The PML-N leaders claimed that a profit of Rs21 billion was earned through the Orange Line Train project. To a question about the resignation of Miftah Ismail, Marriyum said that she was not aware.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021