Bureau Report
LAHORE: An accountability court in Lahore on Tuesday declared deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender in a case related to a 1986 land transaction and involving Jang group chief Mir Shakilur Rehman.
The court issued perpetual arrest warrants for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supreme leader and ordered the seizure of his properties.
It also directed the National Accountability Bureau to submit a compliance report in this regard on the next hearing.
The court recalled it had issued proclamation notices summoning Sharif but he did not turn up. An execution report of his warrants was presented before the court.
Sharif has been residing in London since November last year on the pretext of medical treatment. His party insists that despite being summoned by the courts, who declared him a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana corruption probe, the former premier will only return after the “completion” of his treatment.
The former premier did not appear in court to face charges despite being given 30 days to surrender, the judge said. The hearing was subsequently adjourned till November 26.
According to the corruption watchdog, the then Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif illegally allotted 54 plots, each measuring one kanal, along with two streets, in Lahore’s Johar Town in 1986.
On September 9, the PML-N supremo was declared a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana reference.
Ex-PM Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani are named in the reference pertaining to obtaining luxury vehicles from the treasury by paying 15 per cent of the actual price.
The bureau (NAB) arrested Shakil on March 12 over “illegally” acquiring 54 kanals of lands in Johar Town neighborhood. The anti-graft watchdog accused then Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif of, in violation of relevant rules, allotting the land to him 34 years ago.
The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail, after eight months in jail, to Shakil in the case against a surety bond of Rs10 million.
Jang/Geo group has always denied the allegations against Shakil, saying all taxes and legal requirements pertaining to the property purchase had been fulfilled. It claimed the graft agency had only arrested Shakil because of investigative pieces his channels and newspapers had conducted into the its operations.
