LAHORE - Former federal minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid yesterday said that ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons will not appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) till decision on their review petition filed in the Supreme Court in connection with the Panama case.
Talking to The Nation on phone, he said that NAB had issued summons to the prime minister and his family members without doing any initial investigation or inquiry into the case.
“There is no provision in NAB laws to summon an accused before conducting an initial investigation or inquiry against an accused,” he stated.
Apart from this, he added, NAB had no legal standing to proceed against any accused whose review petition is pending in the Supreme Court for decision.
Pervaiz Rashid further stated that it was also illegal to appoint a judge to monitor the proceedings of any case which is under investigation of the accountability bureau.
“NAB rules don’t permit any such mechanism which is over and above the law,” he maintained, adding the same was also against the principle of independence of judiciary.
“If the superior court involves itself in cases heard by the NAB court, the aggrieved party loses the right to appeal against the decision of the accountability court,” he argued.
The former information minister said that ex-prime minister and his family members had their reservations over the Supreme Court decision as well the NAB proceedings which have been conveyed at the respective forums.
Talking about the disqualification of Mian Nawaz Sharif, he said that entire world was astonished to see how a prime minister has been sent packing on the flimsy charge of having Iqama.
“While the actual charges levelled in the Panama case are yet be established and investigated , an elected prime minister has been sent home on a flimsy excuse which is hard to fathom for many in the world,” he remarked, expressing his astonishment over the court decision.
Asked if the former prime minister was proceeding abroad for treatment, Pervaiz Rashid termed it a misinformation being spread by the opponents to defame the ex-prime minister and his party.
“Mian Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to address a lawyers convention at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on August 25 and there is no question of his leaving abroad a day earlier before this important engagement,” he clarified.
