Accountability court orders seizing Nawaz’s assets in Toshkhana case
From Our Correspondent :
An accountability court in Islamabad ordered the seizing of assets of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Toshkhana case on Thursday. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against the former premier.
During the case proceedings, the NAB counsel presented all the details about the properties of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Mr. Sharif has gone to London for medical treatment on the order of the court. He has not returned to the country despite the orders of the court in another case.
Judge of the accountability court Asghar Ali ordered the authorities to freeze national and international bank accounts of the former prime minister and seize his properties in the Toshkhana reference.
Additionally, the court ordered that 1,650 canals of agricultural land in Lahore and 102 canals in Sheikhupura, owned by Nawaz, should also be seized, in addition to his house in Murree.
Two tractors and the cars Nawaz allegedly obtained from the Toshakhana after paying 15 percent of the price are also included among assets the court has ordered be seized.
The court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Nawaz in the case in June this year and in July directed the Foreign Office to execute the arrest warrants through the Pakistan High Commission in London.
Toshakhana reference
According to the reference, Nawaz, as well as former president and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, had obtained cars from Toshakhana by paying only 15 percent of the price of the luxury vehicles.
It alleges that former premier Yousaf Raza Gillani facilitated the allotment of the vehicles to Zardari and Nawaz ‘dishonestly’ and ‘illegally’ relaxing the procedure for the acceptance and disposal of gifts vide a cabinet division memorandum of 2007.
