Islamabad: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore, on Thursday again summoned Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) firebrand leader Rana Sanaullah Khan on February 3 in a case of assets beyond means.
The PML-N leader and president of the party in Punjab has been directed to bring along documents of his land and farmhouse.
Sanaullah was earlier summoned on January 2 by Pakistan’s anti-graft watchdog and handed a questionnaire as part of the investigation. He was quizzed about his income and assets.
It was widely speculated that Sanaullah might be arrested on his arrival at the NAB Lahore office on Thursday and the Punjab government and law-enforcement agencies had beefed up security around the NAB office during his appearance.
However, he was only directed to produce documents of his properties and assets and reappear before NAB on the said date.
After his appearance before the NAB Lahore, the PML-N legislator said he would come up with answers to every question by NAB.
He, however, said that his assets were the same that he had submitted before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). To a question about the NAB’s power to summon him despite the promulgation of a presidential ordinance, the former Punjab law minister said the opposition parties wanted it enforced through an enactment, not an ordinance.
Sanaullah, after his release on bail from the Lahore High Court earlier on December 24, 2019 in a drug smuggling case, had demanded judicial probe into his arrest.
He has made it clear that unless the government submitted before to the court a “video evidence” concerning his involvement in the narcotics business his lawyers and he would not accept indictment.
He insisted that the case against him could not proceed without submission of the video in court.
The PML-N leader said PTI leaders were claiming that the video footage was discussed in a cabinet meeting and was even shown to Prime Minister Imran Khan. “Now they will have to show the public and the court that video,” he said.
Rana Sanaullah was arrested on July 1 last year by the ANF team on the Islamabad-Lahore motorway near the Sukheki area.
The ANF officials had claimed to have seized 15 kilograms of heroin from Sanaullah’s vehicle while they had also detained PML-N leader’s guard for taking the law into hands.
He was released from Lahore Camp Jail some five months and 25 days after the arrest.
