Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday appeared before a Combined Investigation Team (CIT) of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi for interrogation in the Park Lane Estates Company and Opal-225 – a joint venture of Zardari Group Ltd – cases.
The NAB has handed over a questionnaire containing 32 questions regarding the same cases and directed him to submit his written response within 14 days.
Importantly, the accountability watchdog questioned Bilawal to explain “how the JV Opal-225, without conducting any legitimate business, paid Rs1.22 billion to Zardari Group.” To which the PPP chairman denied his involvement with the Opal-225 project and replied he was not the chief executive of the Zardari Group at the moment.
The NAB posed the question “Did the Zardari Group entered into a joint venture with the Opal-225 project?”
The CIT further asked him whether he was the chief executive of the Zardari Group and if the group took Rs1 billion bribe from a private company before initiation of the project.
In Opal 225 scam, Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur’s bail was extended till June 11 against surety bonds of Rs500,000 each.
Bilawal, after being interrogated, left the bureau in a form of carcade as scores of PPP supporters were present to express their support for the party.
Police arrest two PPP female MNAs
As clashes broke out between hundreds of security personnel, police officers and PPP workers when they were barred at D-Chowk from entry towards the NAB headquarters, several supporters, including two female members of the National Assembly (NA), were arrested by the police.
Police baton-charged and fired water cannon at the supporters as they tried to march towards the bureau.
Later, the police fired tear gas to disperse the workers who refused to disperse as police tried to persuade them to leave.
Bilawal strikes back at government
Earlier, Bilawal accused the federal government of being intolerant of “constructive criticism and opposition voices”.
Fearing unrest over the PPP leaders’ appearance before the anti-graft watchdog today, police personnel were directed to prevent PPP workers from leaving their respective areas and entering the federal capital.
The notification said that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected to appear [at] National Accountability Bureau Headquarters on Wednesday. “It is expected that a large number of political workers will gather from different parts of the country which may end up creating law and order situation. Therefore it is requested that home secretaries of K-P and Punjab may be appointed to direct their CPO/ DPO/ DC to stop said workers to enter inside the Islamabad Capital Territory.”
The PPP chairman responded scathingly to the development in a series of tweets.
“Thank you all for supportive messages. Will be leaving for NAB Pindi shortly,” he wrote on Twitter. “Despite ex-Chief Justice Saqib Nisar announcing that I am innocent, the government has no tolerance for constructive criticism & opposition voices, continue to persecute political opponents.”
