40 PPP workers held after clash with police as Bilawal appears before NAB

ISLAMABAD (92 NEWS) – Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday appeared before a Combined Investigation Team (CIT) of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi for interrogation in the Park Lane Estates Company and Opal-225 – a joint venture of Zardari Group Ltd – cases. The NAB summoned him and his fatherAsif Ali Zardari in the fake accounts case, but Zardari has already excused himself from appearing. His lawyer, Farooq H Naek submitted a request to NAB to excuse the former president on the basis that he was needed for a case in the Islamabad High Court . The petition asked for a date after Eidul fitr to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). "Whatever date you set after Eidul Fitr, he will appear, reads the petition. Bilawal, after being interrogated, left the bureau. Bilawal had asked party workers to gather in front of NAB’s office in Rawalpindi. The Islamabad police were on standby and had already planned to arrest any workers who come for the protest. The Islamabad IGP had ordered a zero tolerance policy. Water canons were called in and were used against PPP workers. At least 40 workers were arrested for trying to breach the NAB office gate. The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts, including Zardari and Talpur. Zardari’s close aide Hussain Lawai was arrested in July last year in connection with the probe. The former president’s close aide and Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed and his son, Abdul Ghani, were arrested by FIA in August 2018. Over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at some private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made, according to sources. The amount, according to FIA sources, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.