The National Accountability Bureau on Monday filed a new reference against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari, and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the fake accounts case.
The reference has been filed at an accountability court in Islamabad.
The reference, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, also named Omni Group CEO Khawaja Anwar Majid and his son Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majid.
According to the reference, Gilani, in order to extend illegal benefit to accused [Zardari and Nawaz], allowed the retention of vehicles gifted to them by different foreign states and dignitaries by relaxing procedures relating to submission of gifts in the Toshakhana.
The accused “through dishonest and illegal means for their personal benefit and interest” retained the vehicles in question “against a nominal payment of 15 per cent of the total value”, the reference stated.
It added that Zardari made the payments for the vehicles through the Omni Group CEO and his son “for which he has no plausible justification.”
“It was established during investigation that these amounts are in the context of illegitimate laundered proceeds for the benefit of the accused,” the reference reads.
The reference maintained that Gilani, in connivance with Zardari and Nawaz, “dishonestly and illegally relaxed the procedure for the acceptance and disposal of gifts […] which stipulate that vehicles shall not be allowed to be purchased by the recipients”.
“The accused [Gilani] floated and suppressed the law and the procedure to grant undue concession, and benefits resulting in wrongful loss to the national exchequer,” the statement added.
According to the reference, during his tenure as president of Pakistan, Zardari accepted and received vehicles as gifts from the United Arab Emirates in 2005 and from Libya in 2008.
“He neither reported the gifted vehicles nor deposited the same. The accused preferred his own personal interests and obtained undue concession and benefits,” it added.
Meanwhile, the reference maintained that Nawaz, who did not hold any public office in 2008, “knowingly and with dishonest intention obtained illegal favour in connivance with [Gilani] by obtaining the relaxation of the said procedure for acceptance and disposal of gifts”.
The fake accounts case pertains to a massive money laundering scam that was being probed by the Federal Investigation Agency.
The suspects include Zardari, Talpur, former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai, Omni Group CEO Anwar Majeed and his sons and several other high profile persons. The case was later taken over by NAB on the Supreme Court’s orders.
On Feb 13, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had appeared before NAB for his alleged transaction with JV Opal-225, a joint venture of real estate tycoon Malik Riaz and Zardari. This was the third time Bilawal had appeared before the anti-graft watchdog.
Addressing a press conference later in the day, Bilawal had questioned why he had been asked to appear before NAB despite the fact that he had never been involved in any malpractice and corruption. He had said that over a year ago the then chief justice had declared him not guilty, adding that he had himself presented before NAB investigators three times and also answered their questions.
The PPP chief had said that he had a detailed talk with the NAB team and they had issued him a questionnaire. “When I wasn’t even a public office holder at the time, what sense did it make that NAB summon me?” he had asked.
In response to the PPP chairman’s remarks, PM’s special assistant Shahzad Akbar had said that Bilawal was behaving as if he was so “untouchable” that an institution could not call him for questioning.
Akbar had said the PPP chairman was twisting facts by misguiding people that he was only seven-years-old when these properties were bought.
“However, the fact is that these properties were bought during 2011-14 when his father Zardari was president of Pakistan and both Zardari and his sister are co-accused in these cases,” he had said, adding that Bilawal was also being investigated in the JV Opal-226 case since the Zardari Group had been accused of money laundering of Rs1.25 billion.
