National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Thursday decided to initiate an inquiry against former Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and others over their alleged involvement in money laundering.
An official said that the Bureau also decided to file a corruption reference against former federal minister Babar Khan Ghauri. "The anti-graft body also authorized 17 other corruption inquiries and one each investigation and corruption reference, mostly against former legislators over their alleged involvement in corruption and corrupt practices," a senior official of the NAB said. He said that the decision to this effect was taken at NAB Executive Board Meeting (EBM), presided over by Chairman NAB former Justice Javed Iqbal.
The official said that the meeting also authorized an inquiry against former foreign minister and senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Nawaz (PML-N) Khawaja Asif over his alleged involvement in money laundering and having assets beyond known sources of income that caused a loss of Rs 3,668.671 million to the national exchequer. The NAB started complaint verification against Asif in March this year, he added.
He said that the Bureau has decided to file a reference against Ghauri and others for misuse of authority and 974 illegal appointments that caused a loss of Rs 2.85 billion to the national exchequer.
The official said the Bureau also initiated an inquiry against MPA and senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Abdul Aleem Khan and others for their alleged involvement in suspicious transactions. He said that the NAB also decided to file a reference against former Advisor to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sikandar Aziz for alleged misuse of authority and illegal occupation on land of Cantonment Board Peshawar.
The official said that NAB also okayed an inquiry against former Federal Minister for Railways Zafar Ali Shah and others for their alleged involvement in corruption and illegal occupation of state land that caused a loss of Rs 574 million to the exchequer. The Bureau also authorized an inquiry against special assistant to chief minister Sindh Bilaj Baloch for having assets beyond known sources of income that caused a loss of Rs 1 billion to the national exchequer.
The official said that anti-graft body initiated an inquiry against former members of National Assembly Abdul Hakeem Baloch for having assets beyond known means. The EBM also authorized an inquiry against Capitan Muhammad Safdar (retd), son-in-law of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, for allegedly releasing Rs 9 billion fund of PWD for development work in NA-21, Mansehra, and awarding contract to blue-eyed contractors, he said.
The Bureau also approved an inquiry against former member of provincial assembly Balochistan Anita Irfan and others for committing alleged corruption in Christian Housing scheme Quetta by misusing their authority. Another inquiry was launched against former member National Assembly Ramesh Lal and others for alleged misuse of authority and having assets beyond known sources of income, he said.
The NAB EMB okayed inquiry against former MPA Sindh of Qambar-Shahdadkot, Sardar Ghaibi Khan and others for alleged misuse of authority and corruption in government funds. The anti-graft body also authorized an inquiry against Ahmad Hussain Dayo and others for misuse of authority and having assets beyond known sources of income, he said.
The NAB also okayed an inquiry against former MPA Sohail Zafar and others for having assets beyond known sources of income, he said, adding that NAB also approved an inquiry against officers and officials of National Highway Authority (NHA) for illegal award of contract of Multan-Sukkur motorway that caused a loss of Rs 259.352 million to the national exchequer.
The EBM also authorized inquiries against officers and officials of provincial Workers Welfare Board of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. The EBM also okayed inquiries against the management of M/S Sahil Private Limited, revenue officers, former Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Amjad Ali, and Haroon Rashid, Waheed Ullah and Muhammad Javed of National Testing Services (NTS). The NAB authorized another inquiry against former Vice Chancellor Punjab University Dr Mujahid Kamran and others over misuse of authority and illegal appointments.