Shahzad Akbar praises Nawaz Sharif

LONDON: Former prime minister Imran Khan's accountability chief Shahzad Akbar has praised ex-premier Nawaz Sharif.

In a tweet, Akbar said he believed that Nawaz was a better person than his brother, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Akbar added that Nawaz was a good person because he has a history of standing up to the establishment.

The former accountability minister took to Twitter after several Pakistani media forums reported that he had praised Nawaz in London, condemned former army chief General Bajwa for ousting him as well as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government and said that PM Shehbaz got has taste of the premiership now which is very hard to give up.

Akbar regretted that several fake cases had been registered against him, and his brother Murad Akbar has been arbitrarily detained. He said he didn't speak to the media because his viewpoint was not given due to censorship.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has issued summons to former Accountability Advisor Mirza Shahzad Akbar, asking him to appear in the alleged illegal transfer of £190 million pounds in the Al-Qadir Trust case, but Akbar has ignored these notices.

On Monday, a special court in Lahore acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's son Suleman Shehbaz and others in a Rs16 billion money laundering case, believed to be made on orders of Akbar.

The court found that there was no evidence of Suleman's involvement in the case, and it looks clear that the case was politically motivated.

Special Central Court Judge Bakht Fakhar Bahzad also directed the secretary establishment to take legal action against Akbar, the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) former director general, and some other FIA officials for lodging a frivolous and baseless case.

Akbar was the advisor to Imran Khan on accountability during the PTI regime while he was also made the head of the East Recovery Unit (AU). He tendered his resignation from his powerful position a year before the fall of Khan's government.

Akbar left Pakistan within two weeks after the removal of Khan's government in a vote of no-confidence move. He has not returned to Pakistan ever since and lives mostly in London with his family.