NAB's money-laundering probe against Nawaz amounts to pre-poll rigging: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi asserted on Wednesday that the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) recent decision to launch a money-laundering probe against former premier Nawaz Sharif amounts to "pre-poll rigging".

NAB ordered on Tuesday an inquiry against Nawaz and others for allegedly laundering $4.9 billion to India. According to a NAB statement, the chairman of the bureau took notice of media report which made the claims citing a World Bank report. 

However, World Bank clarified on Tuesday that its Remittances and Migration Report does not mention money laundering or name individuals.

While speaking in the National Assembly, the premier remarked that a serious allegation has been leveled against the former prime minister.

"In the current [political] conditions, this falls within the ambit of pre-poll rigging," he remarked. 

The general elections will be held in two months and NAB is making allegations that the former premier PM was sending money to India. "This is embarrassing for us all.

“The NAB head should be summoned before Parliament and reveal where he got this information from,” he said, adding that a special committee should be formed to probe into the matter.

The allegations leveled against Nawaz are quite serious, he said. “What will be the country’s future if institutions level such serious allegations against its politicians?

"If an institution can make such allegations, then it must be investigated all that is happening in it," Abbasi said.

“It is our right and obligation to bring such issues before the Parliament. The truth should be brought out before the people,” he asserted.

The premier also said that the accountability court is hearing cases against Nawaz and his family. 

“We don’t expect justice from the court. We don’t see justice being dispensed,” he added. 

Highlighting NAB's 'bias' against Nawaz, the premier quoted the saying, "Justice should not only be done but seen to be done".

PTI opposes parliamentary committee 

Responding to the PM’s statements, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Asad Umar remarked: “We don’t know if NAB allegations are true or not but they stemmed from a report prepared by the World Bank.” 

He added that the bureau is doing the work of the finance minister in the country.

“If we start investigating institutions based on misuse of power then it will result in justice being murdered,” Umar remarked.

“Power cannot be misused to manipulate the truth. Therefore, this [parliamentary] committee should not be formed,” he added.

Shehbaz calls for probe into source of inquiry 

Earlier today, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the NAB probe against Nawaz Sharif should be investigated to determine who is behind the move.

Shehbaz, who is also president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N after Nawaz’s disqualification, said the NAB inquiry announcement has cast a bad light on the accountability bureau.

He was talking to the media in Lahore after meeting Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal who is under treatment after surviving an assassination attempt earlier this week.