Assets case: Court to record prosecution’s statement against PPP’s Asma Arbab today

PESHAWAR: An accountability court will hear arguments today (Thursday) from the prosecution against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Asma Arbab and her husband Arbab Alamgir in a reference accusing them of possessing assets beyond known sources of income, ARY News reported.

The couple was indicted by the court on Jan 10 in the case.

During the last hearing, Arbab Alamgir said he had been paying tax of all properties that had been named in the case. While Asma termed the reference a ‘political revenge’.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had alleged that both the suspects accumulated assets to the tune of Rs332 million, which were disproportionate to their known sources of income. The couple claimed innocence and stated that all their assets were acquired through known sources.

The NAB further alleged that during investigation, it was revealed that both of the suspects accumulated huge assets worth millions of rupees disproportionate to their income. As per the reference, the inquiry was authorised on November 4, 2015 that was subsequently converted into investigation with the approval of NAB executive board on January 12, 2018.

NAB said in its probe that it surfaced that the suspects accumulated movable and immovable assets including a house in G-11/3 Islamabad; 10-kanal land at Mauza Shah Alladitta, Islamabad; a bungalow in F-7/2 Islamabad; prize bonds; a land rover vehicle and several bank transactions.