ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) on Saturday moved the Supreme Court against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, for ordering a probe against former premier Nawaz Sharif over alleged money-laundering of $4.9 billion to India.
An office-bearer of the PML-N’s Japan chapter petitioned the apex court, pleading with it to issue directives for the NAB chief to tender apology over the launch of the probe against the party’s lifetime supreme leader.
The petitioner contended that the Bureau issued a press release on May 8 which accused Mr. Sharif of sending a huge amount to India.
He said the statement which, he said, was aimed to defame the former premier, calls into question the credibility of the anti-graft watchdog and requested the court to order a probe into the matter.
NAB launched a probe against Mr. Sharif after the World Bank’s migration and remittance book released in September 2016 carried information that foreign exchange reserves of India increased by $4.9 billion after receiving the huge amount sent through money laundering, inflicting losses to Pakistan’s national kitty.
The Washington-based multilateral organization, World Bank, promptly responded to the NAB move and stated that “the report does not include any mention of money laundering nor does it name any individuals.”
Whereas, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said the estimates showed in the WB report were based on “assumptions” which did not reflect the reality.
Soon after the SBP’s clarification, NAB issued a brief statement and questioned: “If the World Bank report is not correct, why they have not changed the figure of 4.9 billion dollars from Pakistan in its report?”
The WB’s assessment was called a “flawed” one because those who migrated from India and became Pakistan citizens after 1947 did not send back remittances.
A WB spokesman said: “We would also like to refer to a statement by the State Bank of Pakistan which rejects estimates of $4.9 billion in remittances from Pakistan to India on Sept 21, 2016.”
 on Saturday moved the Supreme Court against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, for ordering a probe against former premier Nawaz Sharif over alleged money-laundering of 4.9 billion to India.){kind=link}