LAHORE - Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) senior leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif has approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) for bail in the money-laundering and assets beyond means case against him.
Kh Asif filed the petition through his counsel Advocate Haider Rasool Mirza while making the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorities a party. In his plea, Kh Asif submitted that NAB had launched investigations against him on allegations of money laundering and assets beyond means about two years ago. He submitted that the matter was investigated by NAB Rawalpindi first and then it was transferred to NAB Lahore.
He submitted that he regularly responded to all the notices, issued by the Bureau in connection with the inquiry, but despite that the Bureau arrested him from Islamabad on Dec 29, 2020 in the case, he added.
He submitted that he had already provided all record to the Bureau whereas the officials had not produced any record of the inquiry yet.
Khawaja Asif submitted that the Election Commission and the Federal Board of Revenue had also complete details of his assets whereas the Accountability Court judge had also remarked that the Bureau possessed all record of the case.
He requested the court for grant of post-arrest bail as the Bureau had failed to recover anything from him which could connect him with any alleged corruption.
NAB had launched investigations against the PML-N leader under Clause 4 of the NAB Ordinance 1999 and Section 3 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. It alleged that assets of Khawaja Asif increased substantially which did not correspond to his income.
The Bureau also stated that Khawaja Asif claimed to receive Rs 130 million from a UAE firm, but he failed to present solid evidence during the investigations. The Bureau also alleged that Kh Asif was running a benami company also.