The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday has sought former information minister Fawad Chaudhry’s detention. The reason behind the arrest of former minister is said to be ‘misusing authority’ in a construction project .
It is to be noted that, Former Minister Chaudhary was nabbed in the month of November and remanded in police custody for two days in link with an August 2022 case for allegedly taking Rs5 million bribe from a citizen.
After his physical remand was extended by a day, he was sent on judicial custody in the case and is currently locked up in Adiala district jail.
Notably, earlier this month, a Rawalpindi court had granted the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) a one day physical remand of Chaudhary in a graft case.
It has rolled out that the Islamabad National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has issued arrest warrants for the former PTI leader, accusing him of “commission of the offence of corruption and corrupt practices” under Section 9(a) of the NAB ordinance.
The warrant, issued by the NAB chairman, Lt. Gen (retired) Nazir Ahmed, ordered for Fawad to be “produced before the court for authorization of arrest for such period as may be necessary for the finalization of the inquiry.”
At the same time, an Islamabad district and session court allowed the NAB to implement the arrest warrant and make him join the probe.
Judicial Magistrate Yasir Mehmood presided over the hearing, where NAB officials and the investigation officer appeared.
During the hearing, the officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed the judge that they required custody of Fawad for an inquiry pertaining to “corruption and misuse of authority.”
They stated that the NAB chairman had issued the warrant under section 24a (arrest) of the accountability laws, adding that the former federal minister was currently in judicial custody.
The NAB further told the court that an inquiry about a dual carriageway project from Jehlum to Pind Dadan Khan — Fawad’s residential area stated on the warrant — was under way against the politician.
