Chaudhry Brothers appear before NAB team in corruption reference

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and cousin former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi – familiarly called as Chaudhry brothers – appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday in a graft case for possessing assets beyond their known sources of income.

The duo recorded their statements in the graft case before a three-member NAB team and submitted a questionnaire comprising 50 questions, mainly about purchase and sale of their assets.

Chaudhry brothers were summoned in a case pertaining to misuse of their authorities, framed against them back in 2000 before they joined hands with former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf.

Prior to their appearance, the anti-corruption watchdog had made government-level contacts with Deputy Commissioner Lahore and Gujranwala to garner details of the assets owned by the Chaudhry brothers and their children.

The details would now be tallied with the replies submitted by the two PML-Q leaders.

Talking to press after appearing before the NAB team in Lahore last month, former Punjab CM Elahi said his family was booked in as many as 135 cases during the PPP government and such cases were not new for him. He vowed to face the case against him while stating that he was not scared of investigation.

“I [had] faced three murder cases in my political life made with a malicious intent,” he then added.

It merits highlighting here that before joining General (retd) Musharaf’s govenment in early 2000, both cousins were associated with Sharif’s ruling party PML-N.

Shujaat had briefly assumed the office of Prime Minister in 2004 while Elahi served as the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007.

The graft case against Chaudhrys of Gujrat is also among the 179 mega corruption cases list, compiled and submitted in the Supreme Court by the anti-corruption watchdog in 2015.

According to sources, the brothers were involved in Rs 2.428 billion corruption case.

The case against them has been reopened at a time when anti-graft body has filed corruption references against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members, besides investigating high-profile scams.