Fawad Hassan Fawad submits acquittal plea in ‘assets beyond means’ case

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad filed a petition on Tuesday in an accountability court asking for acquittal in the 2018 assets beyond means case.

The petitioner in his plea claimed that the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) investigation into the assets case was unlawful since it fell outside of its jurisdiction.

According to Fawad, he did not intend to gain anything from the changes made to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws earlier this year that were adopted by the parliament.

The former senior secretary added, “I seek an early decision on merit in the issue.”

Accountability Court Judge Uzma Akhtar Chughtai granted his request for a hearing and sent notice to the anti-corruption watchdog for January 4, 2023.

The NAB Lahore opened an investigation against him in 2018 for allegedly neglecting to disclose the sources of assets worth more than Rs1.9 billion.

According to the report, the defendant possessed a share in a plaza in Rawalpindi and owned an eight-Kanal commercial site.