ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was cleared by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Toshakhana vehicle reference on Wednesday.
Previously, an accountability court in Islamabad had instructed the anti-graft body to investigate Nawaz Sharif’s involvement in the case and provide a subsequent report.
In the report presented to the court, NAB recommended exonerating the former prime minister from any charges.
The watchdog stated in its report submitted to the court today that Nawaz may be acquitted from the Toshakhana reference, emphasizing that the vehicle in question was not part of the Toshakhana when it was purchased by Nawaz Sharif.
According to NAB’s findings, the Saudi government gifted a car to Nawaz Sharif in 1997, which he then deposited in Toshakhana. Later, in 2008, then-Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani offered to sell the same car to Nawaz Sharif.
Therefore, Nawaz Sharif bought the car not from Toshakhana but from the federal transport pool, the report clarified, also noting that the vehicle’s purchase was not linked to a fake bank account.
This development follows NAB’s request for an extension from the graft court in Islamabad to submit the report in the Toshakhana case involving President Asif Ali Zardari, former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Gilani, and others.
During the previous hearing on March 19, NAB prosecutor Azhar Maqbool informed the accountability court Judge Nasir Javed Rana that Nawaz Sharif was included in the probe at his request, but NAB’s investigating officers were unavailable at the time. Consequently, Maqbool requested the court for more time to submit the report and present arguments in the next hearing.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari’s lawyer Farooq H Naek argued that his client, now serving as head of state, was immune to prosecution following his election as president, thus the case against him could not proceed.
NAB had filed a reference with the accountability court against former heads of state for failing to deposit luxury vehicles and valuable gifts received from foreign leaders into the treasury.
Sources within NAB revealed that Zardari had only paid 15% of the total cost of the vehicles received as gifts through fake accounts, and that he had received expensive cars from Libya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as head of state, but did not deposit them in Toshakhana.
Similarly, both Nawaz Sharif and Gilani had received cars as gifts from foreign leaders during their tenure as prime ministers and had used them personally rather than depositing them in the treasury.
(Islamabad51_Newsdesk)
