File photo. Tolga Akmen—AFP
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday exonerated Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Nawaz Sharif in the Toshakhana vehicle reference, saying the car in question was not at the Toshakhana when it was purchased by the former prime minister.
In a report presented to the accountability court, which had directed NAB to include Sharif in the investigation, the anti-graft body requested acquittal for Sharif. It said the Saudi government had gifted a car to then-prime minister Nawaz in 1997, which he had deposited in the Toshakhana.
In 2008, the report continued, then-premier Yousaf Raza Gilani offered the PMLN leader the option to buy the same car, which he did so from the federal transport pool. The report said the card was not bought from the Toshakhana, adding it was also not purchased using a fake bank account.
NAB had filed a reference with the accountability court in 2020 against Gilani, then-president Asif Ali Zardari, and Nawaz Sharif for allegedly not depositing luxury vehicles and valuable gifts received from foreign leaders in the treasury. According to the case, Zardari had allegedly paid only 15% of the total cost of the vehicles received as gifts through fake accounts.
Both Nawaz and Gilani, too, had allegedly received cars as gifts from foreign leaders as prime ministers and used them themselves instead of depositing them in the treasury.
Zardari’s lawyer Farooq H. Naek, earlier this year, argued that his client, now serving as the head of state, had received immunity following his election as the president.