LAHORE: An accountability court on Friday sent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif to jail on 14-day judicial remand in the assets beyond means case.
The court rejected a National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) request seeking a 15-day extension in Asif’s physical remand and issued orders for 14-day judicial remand instead.
Earlier, the NAB presented Asif before the accountability court’s Judge Jawad ul Hassan today and sought a 15-day extension in his physical remand.
Khawaja Asif’s counsel argued that the accountability watchdog has finished the inquiry and is in possession of all records. The counsel further informed the accountability court that his client was cleared by the Supreme Court for holding an Iqama (work permit) in 2018 when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar challenged his candidacy for the National Assembly (NA).
The counsel contended that Asif has already admitted to being employed by a company overseas, adding that the NAB should provide in writing what it wants to investigate.
The NAB prosecutor in turn informed the accountability court about the PML-N leader owning a restaurant abroad and transactions it deemed suspicious. He said Rs20 million were transferred into Asif’s account by Khawaja Sultan, Rs30 million by Rana Waheed and there was another transaction worth Rs20.8 million.
The prosecutor added that both Rana Waheed and Khawaja Sultan had claimed the money was given to them by Asif. To this, Khawaja Asif said that he can submit in writing that he received the amounts.
“Rs1.8 billion were transferred into his account which he said was for selling a plot. There are also transactions worth Rs100 million to foreign countries,” said the NAB prosecutor.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the bench rejected the anti-graft watchdog’s plea for extension in physical remand and sent Asif on a 14-day judicial remand.
Khawaja Asif was arrested by the anti-graft watchdog on December 30, 2020, from outside PML-N Secretary-General (SG) Ahsan Iqbal’s residence in Islamabad where he had come to attend a party meeting. The NAB said the former defence minister was arrested in a case pertaining to accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.
On January 16, it was reported that NAB Lahore summoned the managing director of International Mechanical and Electrical Company (IMECO), a UAE-based international firm, in connection with the assets beyond means case against Asif. The regional bureau of the anti-graft body asked Elias Salloum to appear before a combined investigation team (CIT) at NAB Complex Thokar Niaz Beg on January 28 along with all relevant documents.
Asif submitted a copy of a letter issued by the company that it may appear at a forum regarding his employment in the firm.
The NAB has alleged that the accused Asif has allegedly committed offences of corruption and corrupt practices as defined u/s (v) of NAO-1999 and Section-3 of Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010 as he accumulated assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and laundered such assets by concealing the origin and nature of assets.
