RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore on Thursday arrested former Director General of the Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department Akram Ashraf Gondal in connection with the illegal issuance of a liquor licence to a private hotel.

The action came a day after the visit of NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal to the bureau’s Lahore office. During his stay, the chairman had directed the senior command to speedily complete probes into all mega corruption cases.

Last month, Gondal had filed an application before the NAB to become an approver against Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in the liquor case. However, during the inquiry proceedings, the NAB said it emerged that all the documentary evidences bore signatures of Gondal, particularly on the permission to issue the license, while the signatures of Usman Buzdar and former Principal Secretary Dr Raheel Siddiqui was not present on any official document.

Earlier, the NAB had accused the chief minister of allegedly receiving Rs 50 million through his relative after the issuance of the licence to the hotel in question. Moreover, Buzdar in his reply to the anti-graft watchdog had stated that neither he nor his principal secretary had any role in the approval of the licence.