LAHORE: The LHC registrar office on Monday fixed the hearing of a pending petition seeking a restraining order against Federal Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and his brother Punjab Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht on charges of accumulating illegal assets.

Earlier, Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti allowed an application of the petitioner seeking early hearing of the petition.

The chief justice directed the registrar office to fix hearing of the pending petition on an appropriate date. Later, the registrar office, in compliance with the order, fixed hearing of the petition for May 12 before the court of the chief justice.

Ahsan Abid, a lawyer from Rahim Yar Khan, filed the petition saying the minister and his brothers owned six sugar mills, several investment companies and agricultural land. He said these assets were beyond known sources of their income. He said the names of the Makhdoom brothers also appeared in “Pandora Papers” and “Swiss Papers” but no action had been initiated against them. He said the Multan office of the NAB had conducted an inquiry during 2018 into the assets of the family and found them unexplained.

He said a regional board meeting on Dec 11, 2018, decided to forward the matter to the NAB headquarters with recommendation for a complete inquiry and further action in accordance with law.

The petitioner said the NAB was bound to complete the inquiry and submit its report before the relevant accountability court. However, he alleged, the bureau had not submitted the report due to the pressure of the federal minister.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2022