LAHORE - The NAB on Saturday initiated another inquiry against former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and his two sons for allegedly possessing assets beyond means.
This is the second inquiry started against the former Punjab chief minister by the National Accountability Bureau.
He is already in NAB custody since last month and is being investigated for his alleged role in the Ashiana Housing scheme scandal.
For the probe in the new case, the bureau has summoned his sons Hamza Shahbaz and Salman Shahbaz on November 2 to answer the questions framed by the investigators.
During the investigation in the Aashiana Housing Scheme case, Shehbaz made the statement that his son Salman was the guardian of his financial matters.
NAB then initiated an investigation of assets beyond known sources of income against Salman. After progress was made in the probe, NAB decided to initiate an inquiry against Shehbaz for owning assets beyond means.
Shehbaz Sharif, who is Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president as well as Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, vehemently denies all allegations of corruption against him.
The accountability watchdog has shifted him to Rawalpindi with a view to facilitate his appearance in the next session of the national assembly.
This is the second time he will be attending the lower house proceedings during a session, which has been requisitioned by his party.
Sources say the PML-N leader is not cooperating with NAB’s Joint investigation team and not coming up with satisfactory answers to questions asked by the investigators.
NAB team is likely to produce him before the accountability court on November 29 to seek extension in his physical remand, sources in the bureau said.
The ex-CM was arrested by NAB on October 6 when he appeared at accountability bureau’s Lahore office to record his statement in the Punjab Saaf Pani Company case and Ashiana case.
His arrest came after Fawad Hasan Fawad, the then implementation secretary, told NAB that he carried out all the activities in projects of Punjab government on the orders from Shehbaz. NAB had also collected information in this regard from Fawad’s laptop.
A division bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi on Wednesday dismissed a petition challenging the arrest of Shehbaz. The petition was filed by AK Dogar on behalf of the Pakistan Lawyers Foundation.
The petitioner argued that no person could be kept in custody without informing him about the grounds relating to his arrest and such grounds could only be established after completion of an investigation. The lawyer also argued that the arrest of a person during investigation and trial was inconsistent under Article 10(1) of the Constitution.
But the court comprising Justice Najafi and Justice Anwarul Haq Pannun observed that the petitioner had no locus standi to agitate the matter before the court.