Shaukat Tareen seeks early hearing of NAB appeals

• Shaukat Tareen has been tipped as the next finance minister, but he has refused to accept the offer until cases against him are dismissed.
• Prime Minister Imran Khan has now included Tareen in the top economic advisory tasked with assisting national policymaking.
• The Islamabad High Court has already served notices to Shaukat Tareen, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and others accused in the NAB case against their acquittal.

ISLAMABAD: Former finance minister Shaukat Tareen on Wednesday filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for an early hearing of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) appeals challenging his acquittal in two rental power references.

An accountability court (AC) in Islamabad had acquitted Tareen, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and others last year in the Sahiwal and Pirangheb Rental Power project references, which was challenged by the accountability watchdog before the IHC.

The IHC had already served notices to Tareen, Ashraf and others accused in the NAB case against their acquittal.

In the Sahiwal rental power reference, the accused were charged with allegedly misusing Rs6.1 million, the amount paid for legal fees.

The reference was filed by NAB in 2014 after the Supreme Court had declared the rental power projects illegal on a 2009 petition of PML-N.

Tareen was approached by the PTI government for the office of finance minister after Hafeez Shaikh’s removal, but he linked his acceptance with the NAB cases pending against him.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has included Tareen in the top economic advisory tasked to assist with national policymaking.