LAHORE: Former Prime Minister and leader of PML-N has asked an accountability court to stop to proceed in a reference against him of illegal allotment of plots to Jang group editor-in-chief Mir Shakilur Rehman as it lacked the jurisdiction after the new amendments made in the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

Yousaf Abbas, a nephew of Nawaz Sharif, and others filed an application before the court stated that the bureau, after the amendment, could not prosecute an alleged offence involving money less than rupees 500 million.

They said the amount of the alleged offence was rupees 143 million in the reference in question, which did not fall in the jurisdiction of the NAB. They contended that the trial court had already acquitted Mir Shakilur Rehman and two former officers of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) in the reference of 34-year-old illegal land allotment.

The applicants said the court had declared Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender and also ordered auction of his properties. They pleaded that the order of the court was not sustainable after the new amendment in the law.

They asked the court to withdraw its order and return the reference to the NAB chairman for further action.

Allotment of plots: Court seeks NAB arguments on plea for staying auction of Nawaz’s assets

The applicants had already challenged the auction of the properties supposedly owned by Sharif.

They also claimed ownership of the assets ordered to be auctioned by the court.

They said the assets had been transferred to them being lawful legal heirs of the owners.

The NAB alleged that Shakilur Rehman illegally obtained exemption of 54 plots each measuring one-kanal Johar Town.

It said the allotment of the land had been in connivance with then chief minister Nawaz Sharif against the exemption policy and the laws for monetary gains. It alleged the accused caused a loss of rupees 143 million to national exchequer.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022