The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking removal of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal for announcing a probe against former Prime minister Nawaz Sharif over money laundering allegations based on a fake news report.
The petition was filed by a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker, Noor Ahmad Awan, in May. Thursday’s decision came during an in-chambers hearing.
It was stated in the petition that NAB had issued a press statement on May 8 stating that the former prime minister was allegedly involved in transferring huge sums of money to India. The petition quoted the press release as saying that the NAB would probe alleged laundering of $4.9 billion by Nawaz Sharif and others. It added that the press release mentioned that the information was taken from the Migration and Remittance Book 2016. However, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had rejected this information on September 21, 2016, it added.
It was contended in the petition that the sole purpose of the press release was to malign Nawaz Sharif. “The press release has raised questions on NAB’s integrity after the SBP’s statement denying the information,” the petition stated.
The petitioner had requested the court to order an investigation on the NAB’s move to issue the press release, besides seeking orders for the NAB chairman to submit an unconditional apology.
Published in Daily Times, June 8th 2018.
