LAHORE , September 7: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has seized the property of Ikram Naveed, the alleged frontman of Imran Ali Yousuf, as part of its investigation into the Punjab companies scandal.
The anti-graft watchdog has seized Rs100 billion worth of properties, including three shops. It said Naveed allegedly paid Rs13 billion to Yousuf, the son-in-law of former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Last month, NAB’s joint investigation team grilled Shehbaz Sharif in cases related to awarding contracts against merit and appointment case for one hour and forty six minutes. The PML-N president is accused of ordering to award Ashiana Housing Scheme contract against merit which raised concerns on the transparency of the project. He also faces charges of illegal appointments in the Punjab Power Development Company (PPDC) which caused huge loss to the national exchequer.
The former Punjab government had constituted 56 companies under guise of good governance and registered them under Article-42 of Companies Ordinance 1984.
Then chief minister Shehbaz Sharif was inspired by the Turkish model and therefore summoned analysts from the same.
While deliberately turning a blind eye towards similar local companies operating in Pakistan, Sharif-led Punjab governmentt awarded dozens of contracts to Turkish conglomerates on hefty paybacks.
Before formation of these companies, 113970 employees were working in different departments across Punjab and the figure augmented to 157,500 following arrival of Turkish corporations.
Rules were either disregarded or revoked while contracts were given on basis of sheer nepotism, thus inflicting hefty losses on provincial exchequer as Shehbaz Sharif issued mammoth Rs150 billion funds in this regard.-Agencies
