Chairman NAB is being blackmailed by government: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi on Wednesday claimed that chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is being blackmailed by the government and taking decisions on the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

While addressing the media in Lahore, the PML-N leader said: "The ill intent of NAB and the government has been exposed today. Shahbaz Sharif has been answering all their questions for 20 months now. He appeared before the investigation committee 10 to 15 times and was remanded in NAB custody for 70 days and then in judicial custody."

"To date, not a single allegation has been proved against Shahbaz Sharif," he asserted.

Read also: LHC grants Shehbaz Sharif pre-arrest bail in money laundering case

Raising questions on the investigations conducted by the anti-graft body, Abbasi said when NAB fails to find any proof in the case, it uses three tactics as the last resort: assets beyond means, money laundering and benami accounts.

"NAB could not even prove embezzlement of government funds against Shehbaz Sharif," he noted.

Insisting that Shehbaz Sharif is ready to cooperate with the bureau, the former prime minister demanded that the investigation should be conducted in front of cameras so that everyone can see the real picture.

"If the purpose is to blame and defame someone, NAB has been doing this for 20 years now," he complained, lamenting that when national institutions stoop down to this level, the country's roots become hollow.

Although Shehbaz Sharif was summoned by the bureau on June 2, his arrest warrants were issued on May 28 by the NAB chairman, Abbasi said, adding “is it not dishonesty?”

Giving out an address of a residence in Lahore’s Zaman Park, the PML-N leader asked the NAB chairman to send a team there and investigate who the owner is, whether he has the means to purchase the property, whether he has declared it in tax returns and what the money trail is.

"I am giving you proof in Bus Rapid Transport (BRT), wheat sugar and drug scandals. Why there's no paper submitted in the foreign funding case?"

He went on to add that people of Pakistan have the right to know who hiked the policy rate to 13.25% and what happened in the Ministry of Finance.

When the country is grappling with deadly diseases like COVID-19 that has wreaked havoc in the country, he said, the cabinet meetings are busy in discussing Nawaz Sharif and how to malign the leaders with false accusations.

"If the country's problems are solved by putting us in jails, then we are ready," he said.

Meanwhile, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that this is an attempt by the government to prevent the opposition leader from attending the budget meeting.

"The virus has taken the form of an emergency in the country and the government is only bent on making false cases against the opposition," Iqbal said.