MUHAMMAD SALEEM

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President and former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and former Punjab chief minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi on Monday appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a case of possessing assets beyond known sources of income.

Both the leaders arrived at the NAB court at 11:45am and remained in the investigation block for an hour. A three-member NAB team questioned Chaudhry brothers regarding their assets and recorded their statements, sources said.

The sources added that the NAB team raised 70 questions before the Chaudhry brothers and also handed them a questionnaire. Both have ensured that they would fully cooperate with the NAB in its investigations, the sources added.

It may be added that a complaint was filed against Chaudhry brothers for possessing illegal assets of more than Rs 2 billion in January 2000, following which the NAB initiated an investigation against them on April 12, 2000. Ch Shujaat Hussain and Ch Pervaiz Elahi were framed in a graft case before the tenure of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Later, Pervaiz Elahi told the media that he has given all the information to the anti-graft body (NAB) and told them that he is ready to appear before them again.

“I am not scared of investigations. This is not new for us, as during the Bhutto government, my family faced 135 cases,” he said. “I have always respected institutions.”

The PML-Q leader said he faced three murder cases in his political life which were made with malicious intent. Responding to a question, he said it is up to his lawyers to see how similar his case is with that of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s.

It may be recalled that Ch Shujaat was the prime minister in 2004 while his cousin, Pervaiz Elahi, was chief minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007. Before joining Gen Musharraf’s(retd) government, they were associated with the PML-Nawaz.