National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday summoned former Punjab chief minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on February 16. The NAB Lahore chapter has asked the former chief minister to attend the anti-corruption watchdog office with documentary evidence of property detail and sources of income.   Earlier, the NAB had apprised the Lahore High Court that it had decided to close the inquiry against Usman Buzdar in a case involving issuance of a liquor licence.

The development came when a two-member bench of the LHC, headed by Ali Baqar Najafi, was hearing a petition filed by a private hotel. NAB’s prosecutor apprised the bench that the anti-graft watchdog’s regional board had sent its recommendation to the body's chairman to end the inquiry against the former chief minister.

Ajaz Awan, the counsel of the private hotel informed the judges that a high court’s single-judge bench had declared issuance of the license in accordance with the law. The lawyer was of the view that an inquiry without any aim has been carried out for the past three years and pleaded with the court to close the investigations.

“Under the NAB amendment law, this inquiry cannot continue,” argued the lawyer. In light of the NAB's response, the court wrapped up the case. It is pertinent to mention here that the former Punjab chief minister was facing NAB investigations for issuing a liquor licence to an under-construction hotel in violation of the law.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP