The Supreme Court on Tuesday restored the assets of former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister Ghaniur Rehman, earlier frozen by the trial court in an accountability case. Accepting the appeal filed by the heirs of the former minister, a three-member SC bench comprising Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, set aside the decision of the trial court and restored the frozen assets.
The court grilled NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Asghar Rana for appearing before the court in absence of NAB chairman. The court said the institution had stopped functional because chairman had not been appointed, adding that no one was taking notice of it. Justice Khosa asked the NAB deputy prosecutor general with whose permission he had appeared before the court, as NAB chairman had not been appointed yet.
Rana, however, told the court that he appeared before it with the permission of the NAB director general. Justice Khosa then told Rana that the NAB DG did not have the authority to do so. He said the government had sought six months’ time for the appointment of NAB chairman and the prosecutor general, adding, however that neither appointment had been done yet.
The NAB deputy prosecutor general told the court that the assets of former provincial minister, earlier frozen by the trial court, could not be returned to his heirs. The court, however, accepted the appeal of the heirs of the former provincial minister and restored his frozen assets by setting aside the trial court’s verdict.
