NAB urged to put Shehbaz’s name on ECL

The National Accountability Bureau Lahore office has written a letter to the NAB Headquarters in Islamabad pleading to place Shehbaz Sharif’s name on the Exit Control List, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Tuesday.

According to sources, the NAB Lahore wrote a letter to DG Operations NAB Headquarters on 28 April 2021 seeking to place the name of the main accused in money laundering reference PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and other accused in the ECL. 

The NAB is investigating money laundering and assets beyond means case against Shehbaz Sharif.

See Also: Shahzad Akbar 'given freehand' to handle Shehbaz Sharif case

The sources said that a request has been sent to the NAB headquarters to challenge LHC ruling in the Supreme Court for not putting the accused’s name on the ECL.

On last Saturday, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif was not allowed to go abroad and was offloaded from a Doha-bound flight at Lahore International Airport in the wee hours.

On Friday, the Lahore High Court had allowed the PML-N president to travel abroad for medical treatment for once and also ordered the removal of his name from the blacklist. 

Shehbaz Sharif was set to leave for Doha from the Lahore Airport on a Doha-bound flight but he was offloaded by the FIA officials from the plane as his name was not yet removed from the blacklist. Shehbaz, who is a cancer patient, argued with the FIA officials that he had been allowed to travel abroad by the LHC. However, the FIA officials said that he could not leave the country until his clearance update on the immigration system.

See Also: PM’s Saudi yatra was worthless, says Bilawal Bhutto

However, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced on Saturday that the government would go to court against the LHC decision in the Shehbaz Sharif case and maintained so far no request has been made by the lawyers of Shehbaz Sharif to remove his name from the blacklist. 

In a tweet, Fawad Chaudhry said that the director-general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has the power to add or remove any name from the blacklist.

Reporter Awais Kiyani