Approver in Punjab Youth Festival case gets bail

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) bench on Wednesday granted bail to Syed Waseem, an approver against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart, Rana Mashood, in Punjab Youth Festival case.

The bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Ahmad Naeem heard the bail petition.

Waseem’s lawyer in his arguments said that Rana Mashood and Usman Anwar awarded illegal contracts, which dented the national kitty heavily.

The bench directed the approver to submit two surety bond of Rs 5 million for availing the relief.

The National Accountability Bureau had launched a probe into alleged misappropriation of millions of rupees of the Punjab Youth Festival in 2011 and 2012 which involves Mashood.

Earlier, on June 21, the bureau had arrested former DG Sports Board Punjab Usman Anwer in the case.

He has been accused of violating the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules in awarding contracts worth millions of rupees.

On June 29, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had barred the former Punjab Education and Sports minister from flying abroad at Lahore airport.

Rana Mashood was offloaded from a private airline’s aircraft by immigration officers of FIA at 2 am because of his name being on the blacklist over his involvement in the alleged embezzlement of funds of the Punjab Youth Festival. He was to fly to the United States.