LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member National Assembly (MNA) Hamza Shehbaz made an appearance at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday to record his statement in the Saaf Pani Company case.
The Punjab chief minister’s son answered the questions of NAB’s deputy directors of investigation, prosecution and intelligence for one hour after reaching the bureau’s regional office at 11 am. He was also reportedly given a questionnaire.
Speaking to the media after recording his statement, Hamza said that he was only 18 when he was jailed for six months at Adiala jail in 1993 but people with pure intentions are not afraid of anything. “My hands are clean,” he claimed.
“I am not a member of Saaf Pani Company. I only participated in five meetings,” he added.
He also added that he and his family had gone through this gruelling routine before when army chief General Pervez Musharraf’s coup in 1999 pushed them to run from pillar to post at NAB for a decade. He informed that the then-NAB chairman had put up his hands stating that despite searching for everything, they hadn’t found any evidence against the Sharif family.
“We will continue to appear before NAB and face the law,” said Hamza.
Speaking further with the press, Hamza urged for across the board accountability, saying that his fellow politicians were out of line. He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan used government helicopters, Jahangir Tareen got loans waived off and Aleem Khan is notorious for land grabbing.
Furthermore, the anti-graft watchdog has summoned CM Shehbaz Sharif’s son-in-law, Imran Ali Yousaf on May 21 with the intention to record his statement in the case as well.
Earlier, the Supreme Court (SC) had directed NAB to probe into Saaf Pani Company for financial irregularities after it came to light that the company was not operational despite having spent Rs4 billion.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar had admonished the chief secretary over improper basic facilities in Punjab, asking the provincial government what steps it has taken for boosting health and education sectors.
“Do you know how much arsenic is being used in drinking water?” he had remarked. “Lahoris are using contaminated and poisonous water.”
The Saaf Pani company was a project established by the Punjab government to conceive, plan, design, execute and manage projects to provide safe and accessible drinking water to the communities living in rural and peri-urban areas of Punjab.