Shehbaz's arrest is the first, more to follow: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry commenting on the arrest of former Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) hinted that other arrests were to follow.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Chaudhry said: “Others involved in big cases should also be arrested.”

The minister said that these cases were initiated by NAB during the tenure of the PML-N government and then continued. He informed reporters that according to NAB law, there was an inquiry first, followed by an investigation and then a reference was filed.

“NAB has now converted these cases into an investigation. NAB has seen that there is potential in the cases and major corruption has taken place,” the minister said

Chaudhry added that corruption amounting to Rs56 billion is alleged to have taken place in Ashiana and other cases.

“The government is neutral in this entire matter but we want accountability for those people who have robbed the country. This is an important step towards that accountability,” he said.

The minister stressed that the government wanted the process of accountability to move forward and had a zero tolerance policy towards corruption.

Chaudhry said while the government was willing to assist NAB in administrative matters, the bureau was an independent institution which was not under the government.

Meanwhile, the information minister of Punjab, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said all members of the former government involved in corruption would be behind bars soon.

“The nation will from now on keep hearing good news,” Chohan further said.