The federal government has placed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Ahsan Iqbal on the Exit Control List (ECL). Sources having knowledge of the matter said the Ministry of Interior placed his name on the no-fly list.
His name was added to the ECL after approval of the federal cabinet, they said. Iqbal is facing the Narowal Sports City reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Last year in November, the national graft buster filed the reference against the former federal minister.
As per the NAB, the sports city project conceived on the instruction of Ahsan Iqbal without any feasibility in 1999 was initially approved at a cost of Rs34.74 million by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), which Iqbal headed.
Iqbal illegally directed the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and NESPAK to increase the project’s scope, enhancing the cost to Rs97.52 million, the NAB added.
Iqbal’s version
At the previous hearing, speaking to the media before heading to NAB, Iqbal said that when the PML-N came to power in 2013, he, as planning minister, had taken up several projects that were incomplete and NSC was one of them. He said that the funds spent on the project were approved by the cabinet, parliament and the National Economic Council.
He explained that the amount of money spent on NSC had exceeded its original cost because when the project was taken up again, the plan was revised and the project was expanded. There is a perception among political analysts and policy experts that the former ruling party and its leaders likely to face more cases in the backdrop of yesterday’s All Parties Conference (APC).
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Informed sources told GVS that the accountability drive against the PPP and PML-N is likely to be fastened in the coming days.