Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif addresses the groundbreaking ceremony of Jinnah Medical Complex in Islamabad on July 21, 2024. PHOTO: APP
LAHORE:
An anti-graft court on Thursday granted pre-arrest interim bail to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s daughter Rabia Imran and her husband Ali Imran Yousaf in a case relating to alleged irregularities in the file of Punjab Saaf Pani company.
Both accused appeared before the court, which approved their bail application and ordered the Anti-Corruption Institute (ACE) to submit its response by May 6.
The couple had already been declared delinquent due to their absence from the country. However, they then went to a court, which suspended their arrest warrants last week and allowed them to surrender to the law.
Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Anti-Corruption Court after the Accountability Court lost jurisdiction following amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance.
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According to the allegations, the couple received illegal financial benefits by renting their private building to the company for use as an office.
Other suspects in the case, including Prime Minister Shehbaz and several senior officials, have already been acquitted.
The Saaf Pani case surfaced in November 2017 when the NAB launched a comprehensive probe into allegations of corruption in 56 public sector undertakings, including Punjab’s Saaf Pani.
The investigation highlighted allegations of irregularities, violations of public procurement rules, nepotism and delays in project completion.
The Prime Minister’s daughter and son-in-law were also recently granted interim bail in another case on Tuesday in a reference related to allegations of corruption in the Punjab Power Development Company (PPDC).
Background
The Saaf Pani scam surfaced after the NAB launched a probe in November 2017 into allegations of corruption in the 56 public sector undertakings, including the PSPC, formed by the Punjab administration led by then PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif.
The NAB has launched an “investigation” into the management, officers and officials of the SPAC and others. This investigation was upgraded to an investigation on August 20, 2018. During the investigation, according to the NAB, it was found that a contract was awarded to the company KSB Pumps for the installation of 82 water filtration plants at exorbitant rates and without proper approval of technical specifications/technical sanctions.
The illegal addendum providing for 36 additional filtration plants was also approved, in which the scope of the project had already changed. Civil, electrical and solar works were also carried out at exorbitant rates during the installation of these water filtration plants in Bahawalpur region, the NAB had claimed.
NAB Lahore first arrested four people – Technical Director Dr Zaheerud Din, Procurement Director Nasir Qadir Badhal, Consulting Engineer M Saleem Akhtar and Managing Director of KSB Pumps Masud Akhter on April 17, 2018.
Also read: Lahore court grants interim bail to PM’s daughter and son-in-law until May 7 in corruption case
They were followed by the arrest of Deputy Housing Secretary Khalid Nadeem Bukhari on May 2. The NAB alleged that the accused revealed the involvement of other co-accused Raja Qamarul Islam and former CEO Wasim Ajmal, who was also arrested on June 25, 2018.
Later, NAB arrested five more accused in the last week of November 2018. Among them, former joint secretary Zahoor Ahmed Dogar, former resident chief engineer Adnan Aftab Khan, resident engineer Masoodul Hassan, resident engineer Moeenud Din and resident engineer Muhammad Younas.
According to the reference, the accused persons prepared the cost estimates at much higher rates, adding that the award of the contract resulted in a cumulative loss of Rs345.282 million to the national kitty.
