The National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Narowal Sports City corruption reference against federal minister Ahsan Iqbal has been quashed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
On Wednesday, IHC dismissed the case after NAB failed to justify a reference against Ahsan Iqbal.
Iqbal was detained by the anti-corruption body in 2019, and an accountability court later indicted him.
According to the watchdog, the planning, development, and special initiatives minister improperly increased the project’s scope from around Rs34.75 million to Rs2,994 million.
The NAB said that the sports city concept was created in 1999 without any consideration of viability in accordance with Iqbal’s instructions.
Iqbal chaired the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), which first authorized it for Rs34.74 million.
According to Justice Minallah, the accountability watchdog’s detention of the planning minister appears to have been motivated by anything other than what was stated in the NAB’s arguments.
IHC CJ criticized the investigating agency for not producing enough proof of corruption.
The IHC CJ rejected the referral against Iqbal after hearing all of the arguments.
The planning minister stated to journalists after the reference was rejected that NAB had “admitted that it had no evidence of corruption”.
The planning minister stated to journalists after the reference was rejected that NAB had “admitted that it had no evidence of corruption”.
Iqbal slammed former PM Imran Khan, under whose tenure several opposition leaders were jailed, saying, “This case was filed against me completely on the wishes of Imran Khan.”
