NAB expedites £190m scam probe against 22 former cabinet members

• Ex-ministers being probed include members of PTI and other parties.
• NAB seeks documents of vehicles purchased or sold by ex-ministers. 
• Details of Hammad Azhar, Farogh Naseem, Sheikh Rashid, others sought.

ISLAMABAD: Further tightening the noose around Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has accelerated the investigation against 22 former federal ministers in the £190 million settlement case linked with the transfer of money from Britain's National Crime Agency's (NCA) account, The News reported.

The anti-graft watchdog has issued letters to all the provincial excise departments seeking the records of vehicles, properties, and bank accounts held by the former cabinet members, which include members of political parties other than PTI as well.

These former ministers are Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Murad Saeed, Pervez Khattak, Zubaida Jalal, Hammad Azhar, Shafqat Mehmood, Shireen Mazari, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Ejaz Ahmed Shah, Ali Amin Gandapur, Farogh Naseem, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Asad Umar, Omer Ayub, Fawad Chaudhary, Mehboob Sultan, Faisal Vawda, Ali Zaidi, Azam Swati, Sheikh Rashid, Zaheeruddin Babar Awan, and others.

Moreover, NAB has also sought the details or copies of certified documents of vehicles purchased or sold by the former ministers during the period from January 2018 to 2023.

The anti-corruption body's combined investigation team (CIT) from the Rawalpindi office, probing the corruption case had already recorded statements of the former ministers. 

As per details, the majority of the ex-ministers appeared before the CIT while some submitted their reply through their lawyers when summoned.

It may be noted that the PTI chief and his wife Bushra Bibi were summoned on June 7 in relation to the same probe. 

The former first lady has been asked to record her statement as a witness for being the trustee of the Al-Qadir University Trust, while the CIT has called the former prime minister to submit the response to a questionnaire given to him at his last appearance on May 23.

The case

The British government, in 2019, uncovered a whopping £140 million in an account owned by a renowned Pakistani real estate tycoon's son, and his wife from 2018 to 2019.

The NCA swiftly froze the funds, suspecting the criminal origins of the proceeds.

Surprisingly, neither the individual nor his wife challenged the account freeze. Following proper legal procedures, the UK returned the laundered funds to Pakistan's government in 2019.

This decision was announced through a joint press release by the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) and the NCA.

The case subsequently made its way to Pakistan’s federal cabinet on December 3, 2019, where it was presented by the then-special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM), Mirza Shahzad Akbar, in a sealed envelope.

The purpose of the presentation was to discuss the return of the funds, which would be channelled into an account overseen by the registrar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

This particular account was associated with the recovery of a staggering Rs460 billion from the same property tycoon, in connection with fines imposed on a housing scheme in Karachi.

“[PTI chief] approved the settlement without allowing his cabinet members to read it,” a source familiar with the investigation told The News.

Investigations have revealed that as part of an agreement to return the laundered money, the property tycoon offered a substantial compensation package.

This included the transfer of 458 Kanal, 4 Marla and 58 square feet of land in Jhelum, alongside cash amounting to Rs285 million, which was destined for the Al-Qadir Trust.

The trustees of Al-Qadir Trust included the then-prime minister Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi and his senior advisers Zulfiqar Bukhari and Babar Awan. However, it is worth noting that Awan and Bukhari's positions were subsequently revoked on April 22, 2020.