Fawad Hasan Fawad acquitted in assets case

LAHORE: An accountability court on Thursday Fawad Hasan Fawad, former principal secretary to ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in 2018 assets beyond means case.

In its verdict, the Lahore accountability court ruled that charges against Fawad Hasan Fawad in assets beyond means charges could not be proved.

The court accepted his acquittal plea on basis of insufficient evidence.

In the plea, the petitioner argued that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry into the assets case was illegal as it was beyond its jurisdiction.

Fawad said he didn’t want to benefit from the amendments approved by parliament in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws earlier this year. “I seek an early decision on merit in the case,” the former principal secretary said.

In 2018, the NAB Lahore launched an investigation against him for allegedly failing to reveal the sources of assets worth more than Rs1.9 billion. It said the accused owned an eight-kanal commercial plot and had share in a plaza in Rawalpindi.

Fawad has served as the principal secretary of two former prime ministers, Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi during the previous PML-N government.