Court turns down NAB plea, remands Kh Asif to jail

LAHORE: An accountability court Friday refused to grant further physical custody of former Foreign Minister and PML-N leader Khawaja Asif to the National Accountability Bureau and sent him to jail on 14-day judicial remand.

An investigation officer of the NAB failed to satisfy the court about any significant development in the probe against Khawaja Asif due to which the court turned down the NAB's plea seeking further physical custody of the accused. NAB officials produced Khawaja Asif in the accountability court of Judge

Jawad Ul Hassan. As the hearing commenced, NAB prosecutor Asim Mumtaz implored the court to grant 15-day extension in physical custody of the accused. He argued that a person, Rana Waheed, had deposited Rs30 million in the account of Khawaja Asif and admitted in his statement that he took the money from Khawaja and then deposited it in his account. To it, the judge addressing Khawaja Asif said that Khawaja Sahib tell everything to the NAB and end the issue. To which, Asif said he had told everything to the NAB and had not given money to Waheed. Then the judge remarked that in the eyes of law a person’s statement before the police had no legal value.

Then the judge asked the NAB prosecutor if there was any development in the investigation. He replied that the CEO of the company for which Khawaja claimed to have worked in Dubai had been summoned by the bureau for January 28. The prosecutor said Khawaja owned a restaurant abroad and transactions were suspicious for its purchase, adding that Rs20 million was transferred into his account by Khawaja Sultan. He requested the court to grant 15-day extension in his physical remand.

However, Haider Rasul Mirza, counsel of Khawaja Asif, informed the court that his client had been cleared by the Supreme Court for holding an Iqama in 2018, when PTI leader Usman Dar challenged his candidacy for the National Assembly. He argued that the NAB was still seeking confirmation of the job contract of his client though he had already admitted to being employed by an overseas company. "The salary, which my client received from the company, had been spent and the spent money which was spent required no need to be declared," he argued.

The judge asked him that the court's major concern was foreign transactions and where was their explanation? The counsel replied that all documents had been provided to the NAB Rawalpindi in written form. The judge asked the NAB prosecutor what it wanted when all record had been provided to them. "The bureau will keep custody of the accused if he doesn’t share anything with it," the judge said. The prosecutor replied that the bureau had to investigate where from Khawaja received Rs100 million in Dubai.

The court after hearing the arguments of both parties reserved its judgment for a while and later declined the NAB plea seeking further physical remand of Khawaja Asif and sent him to jail on judicial remand until February 4.