Hearing on Chaudhry brothers’ petition challenging NAB's authority adjourned till Dec 17

NAB Lahore DG Shahzad Saleem appeared before the court. In its remarks, the court said that the NAB DG has come without complete preparation even today. Justice Shehram Sarwar remarked that it looks like the inquiry against Chaudhry brothers remained untouched for seventeen years.

DG NAB Lahore Saleem Shehzad appeared in the court with the report.  He submitted details of the assets of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan said apparently the NAB DG did not prepare the report himself and is reading details compiled by someone else. You even mentioned wrong closing date of reference, Justice Sadaqat Ali told Shahzad Saleem.

The court directed the DG NAB to appear at the next hearing with complete preparations.

The NAB DG informed the court that the inquiry has been pending with Assistant Director Najam Abbas since 2015. On January 27, 2017, the investigating officer sent a request to close the inquiry at the Regional Board meeting. On January 27, 2017, the Regional Board had referred the matter to the Chairman.

The court adjourned the case till December 17.

It is noteworthy here that Chaudhry brothers maintained in their petition, “The NAB is involved in political engineering. It conducted complete investigations 20 years ago but remained unsuccessful. The NAB chairman does not hold the authority to reopen a closed inquiry. We belong to a political family and are being victimized.”