NAB to approach apex court over bails granted to PML-N's Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Asif

In Ahsan Iqbal’s case, the anti-graft body will approach the accountability court to hold daily hearings of the former interior minister’s case, a statement issued by NAB said.

“NAB had filed a reference against Ahsan Iqbal in the honourable accountability court of Islamabad that is being heard. [Now] NAB has decided to file an application asking the court to hold daily hearings of the case under Section 16-A of NAB Ordinance,” read the statement.

The statement also stated that the bureau will approach the Supreme Court over Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif’s bail, which was approved by the Islamabad and Lahore High Courts, respectively.

 Khwaja Muhammad Asif  Case

A detailed verdict of the Lahore High Court into post-arrest bail granted to former defence minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif in an inquiry of illegal assets and money laundering observed that the opposition leader caused no loss to the national exchequer.

The bench had granted the bail to Asif on June 23 last through a short order.

The NAB had arrested Asif from Islamabad on December 29, 2020, and later shifted him to Lahore where he remained on physical remand till Jan 22, 2021. The former minister is also a sitting MNA of PML-N from NA-73, Sialkot.

The NAB had initiated the inquiry on the complaint of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s leader Usman Dar, who had lost his 2018 general election against Asif.

Ahsan Iqbal Case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has noted that the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) decision to arrest PML-N senior leader and former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal during its inquiry into a sports complex case was an abuse of power.

A division bench of the IHC, headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justice Lubna Saleem Pervez, on February 25 granted bail to the PML-N leader. 

The country’s top accountability watchdog arrested Iqbal in December last year over alleged irregularities in a sports complex constructed in his hometown of Narowal.