PML-Q leaders’ plea against NAB adjourned

LAHORE:A Lahore High Court division bench on Thursday adjourned hearing of petitions by PML-Q leaders - Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Punjab Assembly Speaker, against the actions of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The bench comprising Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem and Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry took up the petitions for hearing; however, counsel of the petitioners was not available. The Lahore High Court Bar Association’s President Ch Tahir Nasarullah Warraich told the bench that counsel Amjad Pervez did not appear as a precautionary measure against Covid-19 since three fellows in his chamber tested positive for the novel virus.

The bench accepted the request and adjourned hearing for a date to be fixed later. Previously, two judges of two different division benches had refused to hear these petitions for personal reasons.

The petitions by the Chaudhry Brothers said that then chairman of the respondent bureau in 2000 authorised investigation against them on the allegations of misuse of authority, assets beyond means and willful default under National Accountability Ordinance 1999. They said all the three investigations were recommended for closure by the investigating officers and regional board of the NAB during 2017 and 2018 when the regime of political arch rivals was in place. However, they said, the NAB chairman approved in 2019 reinvestigation and bifurcation of the inquiries against them after an investigation spreading over a period of 19 years since authorisation of investigation in the year 2000. They asked the court to set aside the authorisation of the inquiries and the order for their bifurcation passed by the NAB chairman for being unlawful.