KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team has returned after conducting a raid at the residence of former minister of finance and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail.
The bureau’s team including female officers raided at Miftah’s residence in Karachi along with his arrest warrants issued by the Chairman NAB Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal, in LNG case.
The team entered the house of former finance minister but Miftah was not home and his mobile phone was off as well.
As the NAB team including female officers reached Miftah’s residence, the security guards refuse to open the doors. The security supervisor at the house stopped the NAB team and said that the doors cannot be opened without consultation.
Sources said that the former finance minister’s cell phone was also off since 12pm due to which the anti-graft watchdog is unable to trace his location. The team will also raid his office in the second phase.
Sources privy to the NAB said that the former finance minister was not cooperating with anti-graft agency’s team.
The development came following arrest of former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi by NAB in LNG case. He has been ‘accused of commission of the offence of corruption and corrupt practices’.
The apex court on September 10, 2018 had directed the NAB to complete the inquiry against former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Miftah Ismail and others for the alleged corruption in the LNG contract.
Earlier reports said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) claimed that the former Minister for Finance of the country has been in hiding from a possible arrest, ARY News reported on Thursday.
The anti-graft watchdog has been searching for the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) stalwart in reference to the corruption allegations against him but has as yet remained fruitless, sources claimed.
Miftah Ismail was summoned on Thursday in NAB’s Islamabad Office in context to the corruption allegations against him over misuse of power in allotting LNG quotas during his tenure.
Sources also revealed that the anti-corruption bureau raided the politician’s office too but he was not to be found.
Earlier, The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 7 extended interim bail of former finance minister Miftah Ismail in a case pertaining to Liquefied Natural Gas quota scam was approved till May 30.
A two-member bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case.
During the course of proceedings, Justice Athar Minallah asked the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) investigation officer that whether they wanted to arrest the petitioner.
The NAB official apprised the court that he had no arrest warrants so far against Miftah.
The NAB officials requested the court to grant them sometime to submit answer against the bail petition. On the request of NAB officials, the court extended the interim bail of Miftah till May 30 and adjourned the hearing. – NNI