LAHORE - An accountability court on Thursday remanded former senior Punjab minister Abdul Aleem Khan in custody of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) till February 15 in assets beyond means case.

The NAB officials earlier produced the former minister before the court. NAB’s prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua argued that Abdul Aleem Khan was detained after he failed to satisfy the bureau investigators in connection with his off-shore companies and assets beyond means.  The prosecutor argued that Aleem’s assets did not correspond with his known income. He requested the court to grant 15-day physical remand of the accused for investigations. During the hearing, Aleem’s counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique opposed the request saying all assets were declared in income tax record. He submitted that Aleem inherited money whereas there was no allegation that he misused his authority.

Accountability Court Judge Syed Najamul Hassan Bukhari, after hearing arguments of the parties, reserved its verdict on remand for sometime but later, granted physical remand of Aleem to NAB till February 15.

A large number of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers were present in the premises. It is pertinent to mention that Aleem on Wednesday appeared before the NAB team at its regional headquarters in connection with the case but he was arrested. Aleem immediately resigned from office following his arrest. He had forwarded his resignation to the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar as per sources. 

He was elected from PP-158 (Lahore-XV) in July 25 elections. Aleem, who was Punjab’s Senior Minister for Local Government & Community Development, Planning & Development, was tasked by Prime Minister Imran Khan to lead the party’s efforts to ensure real change in the province.

Last Wednesday, he was taken into custody after he appeared before the NAB Lahore Office. “Arrest of [the] accused is necessary to unearth other assets which accused might hold in his ownership or in the ownership of his Benamidar and for the collection of evidence and concluding the inquiry/investigation in accordance with law,” NAB said in a press released. The accountability watchdog had earlier summoned Khan twice but he failed to convince it. Later, it asked him for more documents in the case. It was appeared during the investigation that Khan owned many flats in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Britain.

‘Aleem Khan failed to satisfy NAB’

PTI leader Aleem Khan failed to satisfy combined investigation team of the National Accountability Bureau during investigations.

A NAB spokesman on Thursday said that Senior Provincial Minister Aleem Khan had submitted his replies to different questions but failed to satisfy the investigators. NAB will fight the case against Aleem Khan in accountability court on the basis of solid evidence as per law, the spokesman claimed. He said that the senior minister was remanded in NAB custody and he would be investigated properly. 

Aleem Khan, also a close friend of PM Imran Khan, was arrested by anti-graft agents in connection with an “assets beyond means” case in Lahore on Wednesday. The minister was detained at Lahore NAB office hours after he visited the facility to respond to allegations of corruption against him.