Shehbaz Sharif demands production orders be issued for Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Monday demanded that production orders be issued for former President Asif Ali Zardari. 

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Zardari in the fake bank accounts case from his residential place in the capital city. The anti-graft body has been taken the former president to the NAB office in Melody. 

Speaking in the National Assembly on Monday the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president said that former president Asif Ali Zardari has presented himself before the National Accountability Bureau on every occasion there was no need for immediate arrest.

"Zardari never used delaying tactics. NAB should have appreciated this," said the opposition leader. 

The case

The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts, including Zardari and Talpur. Zardari’s close aide Hussain Lawai was arrested in July last year in connection with the probe.

The former president’s other close aide and Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed a close aide and Omni Group chairman and his son, Abdul Ghani, were arrested by FIA in August 2018.

Over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at some private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made, according to sources.

The amount, according to FIA sources, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.