NAB again summons Bilawal in Park Lane case

RAWALPINDI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi on Tuesday summoned Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in connection with investigation into the Park Lane case.

The PPP chief has been served a notice to turn up at the Old NAB Rawalpindi Headquarters on May 17 when he will likely be questioned about the case. This will be the second time he will appear before the corruption watchdog.

It is noteworthy that Mr Bhutto-Zardari has not yet responded to a questionnaire he was handed by the bureau during his first appearance before it in March this year.

According to sources, PPP co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari had given most of replies to the questions put to his son by the bureau’s investigation team. Mr Bhutto-Zardari has, therefore, been summoned alone this time.

Earlier in March, Zardari and his son had appeared before the NAB Rawalpindi amid tight security. They were questioned for two hours in three cases by a combined investigation team (CIT), according to a NAB press release.

The CIT had handed them a questionnaire pertaining to the cases with the directives to respond to it within 10 days.

NAB has also summoned the former president in illegal award of water supply contract of Sindh government to private companies on May 16 (Thursday) again.

The Combined Investigation Team of NAB summoned the PPP co-chairman on May 8, 2019 but he did not appear and obtained pre-arrest bail from the Islamabad High Court in the same case to avoid possible arrest in this case.

The former president moved a bail petition requesting the court to grant him bail in the case and direct the bureau to provide details of all cases it has been investigating against him. After hearing initial arguments, an IHC bench approved the interim bail of Zardari until May 15 against a surety of Rs500,000.