LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday detained Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif.
The PML-N president has been detained by NAB Lahore in connection to the Saaf Pani Case, Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said.
The accountability watchdog had alleged that Shehbaz had misused his authority during his tenure as Punjab chief minister and was involved in corruption in the Saaf Pani Company.
Sources said that NAB had summoned Shehbaz to appear before it at 11am today and was detained when he appeared at the bureau’s office later during the day to record his statement.
Further, NAB sources said that the PML-N president has not been arrested as yet and that a decision in this regard will be taken after the accountability bureau seeks permission to do so from the National Assembly speaker.
PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed that Shehbaz had been detained by the accountability bureau.
NAB is also investigating the PML-N president in Ashiana Housing scandal, Paragon Housing Society scandal and Punjab Power Company corruption cases.
On June 26, NAB arrested Engineer Qamarul Islam Raja – former chairman of Saaf Pani Company and PML-N’s ticket holder from NA-59 Rawalpindi-III – for his alleged role in awarding contracts to ‘favourites’.
NAB officials also apprehended former CEO of the company, Wasim Ajmal, who is accused of making changes to the company’s documents after project bidding in violation of the rules.
The Punjab government had established Saaf Pani Company to conceive, plan, design, execute and manage projects for the provision of safe drinking water, in terms of both access and quality, to the communities living in unserved and underserved areas i.e. rural and peri-urban areas of the province.
