ISLAMABAD - The National Accountability Bureau is set to tighten the noose around former federal minster and senior PPP leader Ijaz Jhakhrani in case of assets beyond known sources of income, The Nation has learnt reliably.
On September 26, Chairman NAB Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal had chaired the Executive Board Meeting and authorised the inquiry against Jhakhrani in said case.
Sources told the Bureau is investigating the assets of former federal minister Jhakhrani in different cities of Sindh. They said that a complainant levelled serious allegations against Ijaz Jhakhrani, saying the former minister is owner of one floor Mill and one Rice Mill in Jaccobobad and three rice mills in Dera Allahyar. The complaint said that former member cabinet owns 276 acres land in different cities of Sindh and three houses in posh areas of Karachi. Furthermore, the complainant alleged that Jhakhrani has constructed a hotel on the government property illegally in Joccobabad. The PPP leader also allegedly involved in corruption during his tenure as health minister and he has properties abroad, the complaint said.
Sources also claimed that the NAB investigation team had summoned the complainant thrice at the NAB Sukkhar officer and recorded his statement in this case. They mentioned that the regional bureau will summon Jhakhrani for recording his statement by end of this month.
A senior officer said that the senior officers of NAB Sukkhar Bureau have good links with Ijaz Jhakhrani and they were reluctant to take up the case and that is why the complaint took almost 10 months in verification process. However, the Bureau is set two months for the complaint verification process.
According to the documents, NAB received a complaint against Jhakhrani on 13-12-2017 and it was decided to refer it to NAB headquarters for Complaint Verification authorisation on December 15, 2017. On Feb 19, 2018, the NAB headquarters authorised the complaint verification and assigned it to Investigation Officer. In June, the Sukkhar Bureau referred the case to Headquarters for authorisation of inquiry.
Talking to The Nation, Ijaz Jhakharni rejected the allegations and said he is ready to face the NAB investigations. He said that he has not received any summon in this case so far.