NAB gets court nod to grill Nawaz Sharif in Kot Lakhpat Jail

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Monday granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) permission to interrogate former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Tosha Khana vehicle case inside Kot Lakhpat Jail, reported ARY News.

The corruption watchdog moved an application seeking permission to question the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo in the case, which was granted by the accountability judge.

The former premier is currently serving seven-year prison term awarded to him in the Al-Azizia reference.

A NAB official informed the judge that Sharif had illegally acquired a luxury vehicle from Tosha Khana on payment of 20 per cent of total amount in taxes and duty. The vehicle was gifted by the government of Saudi Arabia in 1997.

He pleaded with the judge to allow the anti-graft watchdog to question the former premier in connection with an investigation into the case.

Earlier in March, this year, a NAB team had recorded the statement of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in connection with its investigation into alleged personal use of bulletproof vehicles imported for the SAARC summit 2016 inside jail.

The team comprising NAB’s additional director Hamad Hassan and deputy director investigation Abdul Majid met the PML-N supreme leader at the jail superintendent’s office where he was interrogated.

The NAB stated before the court that 34 bulletproof vehicles were procured from Germany for the guest of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference. The vehicles were bought without paying import duty, it added.

However, the corruption watchdog said 20 vehicles remained in the personal use of Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz. It said it had already recorded the statement of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, ex-principal secretary to prime minister Fawad Hassan Fawad and other officials.