LAHORE: An accountability court in Lahore rejected National Accountability Bureau (NAB) request seeking a 15-day extension in the physical remand of PML-N leader Khawaja Asif and sent him on a 14-day judicial remand instead.
The PML-N leader was arrested late December last year from outside the residence of Ahsan Iqbal where he had come to attend a party meeting. NAB said Khawaja Asif has been arrested in a case pertaining to accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.
Today, the bureau present Khawaja Asif before accountability court judge Jawad ul Hassan and sought a 15-day extension in physical remand.
But Khawaja Asif's counsel argued that NAB has finished the inquiry and is in possession of all records. The counsel further informed the accountability court that the PML-N leader has been cleared by the Supreme Court for holding an Iqamah in 2018 when PTI leader Usman Dar challenged his candidacy for the National Assembly.
The counsel contended that Khawaja Asif has already admitted to being employed by a company overseas, adding that the accountability watchdog should provide in writing what it wanted to investigate.
NAB prosecutor in turn informed the accountability court about the PML-N leader owning a restaurant abroad and transactions it deemed suspicious. He said Rs20 million were transferred into Khawaja Asif's account by Khawaja Sultan, Rs30 million by Rana Waheed and there was another transaction worth Rs20.8 million.
The prosecutor said both Rana Waheed and Khawaja Sultan had claimed the money was given to them by Khawaja Asif. To this, Khawaja Asif said that he can submit in writing that he received the amounts.
"Rs1.8 billion was transferred into his account which he said was for selling a plot. There are also transactions worth Rs100 million to foreign countries," said the NAB prosecutor.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the bench rejected the anti-graft watchdog's plea for extension in physical remand and sent Khawaja Asif on a 14-day judicial remand instead
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