A bigwig of Punjab bureaucracy and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s Principal Secretary Tahir Khursheed aka TK has come under the radar of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore, as the Bureau has opened an assets-beyond-means probe against him, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Friday.

The NAB Lahore has subpoenaed the CM’s principal secretary on July 8. 

Sources informed 24News TV channel that the accountability watchdog has received complaints of financial irregularities against Tahir Khursheed during his stint as secretary of communications. Mr Khursheed is accused of making more assets beyond his known sources of income. 

It has been alleged that Mr Khursheed awarded contracts worth millions of rupees to his favourite people.

The sources said that the accountability watchdog has demanded details of Mr Khursheed’s assets. The Bureau has sent letters to the Federal Board of Revenue, Excise Department and other departments to launch a probe into his assets, the sources concluded. 

An image of the NAB call-up notice.

Meanwhile, the civil secretariat in Lahore was abuzz with the talk of TK’s summoning by the NAB. The officers kept asking about the investigation against Mr Khursheed. 

The NAB subpoena for TK is a big setback for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf government. Fingers have started raising against Punjab CM Buzdar in the bureaucracy. 

Mr Khursheed is likely to announce transfers in bureaucracy today. 

‘Ready to defend myself’

In his reaction, Mr Tahir Khursheed said that he still had not received the NAB notice. But he would strongly defend himself during the NAB investigation as he had done nothing wrong and his position was clear, Tahir said in a statement issued in Lahore.

Reporters Usman Aleem and Qaisar Khokhar