Peshawar (Staff Report): An accountability court on Tuesday indicted Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former federal minister for communications Dr Arbab Alamgir and his wife, a former lawmaker, Asma Alamgir once again in a corruption case.
Arbab and Asma appeared before the accountability court as it heard a case against them for owning assets beyond known sources of income.
After hearing the arguments of both sides, the court once again indicted the PPP leaders and removed the part regarding foreign properties from the new indictment.
On Jan 10, an accountability court indicted former federal minister Dr Arbab Alamgir and his wife Asma Alamgir in a reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for possessing assets beyond means.
Asma Alamgir had also served an adviser to then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.
The NAB had alleged that both the suspects accumulated assets to the tune of Rs332 million, which were disproportionate to their known sources of income. The couple claimed innocence and stated that all their assets were acquired through known sources.
The NAB-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa further said that during the investigation, it was revealed that both of the suspects accumulated huge assets worth millions of rupees disproportionate to their income. As per the reference, the inquiry was authorised on November 4, 2015 that was subsequently converted into investigation with the approval of NAB executive board on January 12, 2018.
NAB said in its probe that it surfaced that the suspects accumulated movable and immovable assets including a house in G-11/3 Islamabad; 10-kanal land at Mauza Shah Alladitta, Islamabad; a bungalow in F-7/2 Islamabad; prize bonds; a land rover vehicle and several bank transactions.
According to radio Pakistan, the accountability court in Peshawar has summoned four witnesses on January 24 to commence the trial.
A brief altercation erupted between the party workers who tried to enter the accountability court premises and the police when the couple arrived at the court. However, the cops deployed outside the court controlled the situation.
