NAB tells LHC: Inquires against ministers will conclude in 3 months

The Lahore High Court disposed of a petition against federal minister Khusro Bakhtiar and his brother provincial minister Hashim Jawan Bakht after the National Accountability Bureau informed that the inquires against the respondents into allegations of amassing assets beyond know source of income would be concluded in three months.

Bar member Ahsan Abid had challenged the NAB chairman's order to transfer inquiries from Multan to Lahore. The petitioner, also the complainant against both the minister brothers, pleaded that in early 2018 he had moved a complaint against Makhdoom brothers to NAB Multan office but they paid no heed to it. Meanwhile, both the brothers contested 2018 general elections from NA-177 & NA-256 Rahim Yar Khan respectively, and won their seats. He said the NAB remained indecisive about the fate of his complainant and he had to approach LHC's Multan bench which directed the NAB to expedite the inquiries against them. He said the NAB had transferred the inquiries to Lahore without any legal justification. He, therefore, asked the court to set aside the NAB chairman's order to transfer the inquiries from Multan to Lahore and direct the NAB to conclude the same expeditiously. He further prayed the court to direct the NAB to file references against both the brothers and place their name on the exit control list. A NAB special prosecutor however pleaded that the Chairman NAB was empowered to transfer any inquiry from one regional office to another.