NAB to question Zardari, Bilawal in Park Lane case on March 20

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will hand over a questionnaire comprising 100 questions to former president Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the fake bank accounts case on March 20 (Wednesday).

According to details, the top PPP leaderships have been summoned to appear before NAB Rawalpindi in connection with the Park Lane Estate case.

The members of a joint investigation team (JIT) of NAB will inquire them about accusations over Park Lane Estate Company (Pvt) Ltd, a Karachi-based real estate firm co-owned by Zardari and Bilawal.

Asif  Ali Zardari had acquired the company illegally through a front man, Iqbal Memon, in 1989. In 2009, Zardari and Bilawal became shareholders of the company, sources told.

Moreover, both of them have a stake of 25 percent each in the company and Zardari had the authority to use the company accounts at his discretion as the director of the firm.

Allegedly, billions of rupees were transferred to the company’s accounts via fake bank accounts while the company documents dating back to the year 2008 show Zardari’s signatures as the director. The company took out loans of billions of rupees from the banks.

Contrarily, Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur on Saturday filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) to challenge the banking court’s decision to allow transfer of fake bank accounts case to Islamabad.

Seeking annulment of the banking court’s decision, Zardari and Talpur termed the move “illegal”.

Last month, the NAB had filed a petition with the trial court on behalf of NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, stating that the investigation of the case had been transferred to the anti-graft watchdog by the apex court. The petition had requested the trial court to transfer the proceedings of the case to an accountability court in Rawalpindi.

Following the petition, the banking court had reserved its verdict earlier this week. On Friday, the court announced its verdict and allowed the transfer of the fake accounts and money laundering case from Karachi to an accountability court in Rawalpindi.