ISLAMABAD - Chairman Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf has expressed his deep concerns over decision of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) giving clean chit to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in illegal assets and money laundering case. "This decision puts NAB's performance as institution under question," Imran Khan pleading Supreme Court to intervene and take control of NAB.

In a statement issued by PTI's Central Media Department, Imran Khan stressed that Pakistan would have retrieved its billions of dollars stashed in off-shores companies only if accountability institutions like NAB had been doing their work earnestly.

The PTI chief asserted that NAB failed to carry out the inquiry against the federal minister impartially. "The case was reflected in 179 cases of mega corruption and the same list was filed by NAB itself in the Supreme Court but now it has been closed as the Bureau says it could not find any evidence."

The inquiry is dropped at a time when it was in the second stage of investigations and a reference was in process to be filed against it in the court. He said that NAB should answer why the inquiry lingered onto 15 years if it did not manage to gather any evidence. He asked why the time and resources of taxpayers' money were wasted for 15 years if inquiry did not achieve anything.

He said that it is beyond comprehension that how could NAB close down a case when it was already in the court for hearing. The PTI chief said that at such time, when reports of corruptions in Panama Leaks were already making waves, clean chits to high profile cases by NAB were shameful. He also cited the former chairman NAB Fasih Bukahari claim that in Pakistan 12 billion rupees are wasted into corruption on daily basis. He said that PML-N was behind the pressure to drop the charges against its minister. "These are routine tactics of PML-N to pressurise institutions for its political gains," he added. He further expressed his shock that national institutions like NAB were being used to give clean chits to looters of taxpayers' money while the weak and oppressed were put under trials for corruption charges.

He urged the Supreme Court to take notice of the matter. “Supreme Court should look into this matter under article 184/190 (3) of the constitution," he concluded.