The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) of Punjab Tuesday arrested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member National Assembly Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf for illegally occupying state land.
In a statement today, the ACE said that Ashraf is a PML-N lawmaker elected from NA-148.
Ashraf is accused of invading state-owned land by manipulating the land records and paperwork in collaboration with the revenue officer (Patwari).
The anti-corruption department has registered a case against the lawmaker.
The Document say that Ashraf had illegally faked the garawari, or certificate of ownership, for the state-owned land with more than 150 canals in Chak no. 6-R/90 in Sahiwal.
In Pakistan, the legal revenue department document known as a “Gardawari” provides information about the land and crops.
By paying off tax professionals and the colony clerk, MNA Ashraf allegedly got the land allocated in the name of a Sharif Ahmed Hashmi who doesn’t exist and has since been growing crops there without paying any payments to the government.
The document further says that the accused has been dealing losses worth millions of rupees to the national kitty with impunity and must be brought to justice.
PM Shehbaz Sharif condemns MNA’s arrest:
Terming MNA Chaudhry Ashraf’s arrest as a part of the Punjab coalition government’s political witch-hunt, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Tuesday condemned the arrest in the strongest of words.
Imran Khan, the leader of the PTI, was charged by PM Shehbaz with issuing the order to use the anti-corruption division against political rivals.
“The PTI is still pursuing the negative policy of political harassment. You have seen it in the last four years,” the PM said adding that such stances had harmed the country irrevocably.
He said after setting National Accountability Board (NAB) on their political opponents, the PTI was now using the ACE as a tool for harassing them (government and allies) was highly deplorable.
