The Islamabad High Court has set the criteria for the National Accountability Bureau regarding its powers to confiscate property restraining the watchdog from impounding properties except for those which relate to the under investigating cases, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.

The court ordered the bureau to hand over five vehicles out of eight to their original owners as it could not establish their link to the case. 

The NAB impounded 8 vehicles from the house of former Karachi ex-DG Parks Liaquat Qaimkhai. The seized vehicles belonged to his brothers and relatives. The court declared the NAB’s confiscation illegal as the bureau failed to establish the confiscated property’s ownership to the accused. 

In its written order, the IHC said that confiscation of five out of 8 vehicles recovered from Qaimkhani’s house was illegal. NAB could not establish link of the cars of Shah Rukh Jamal, Muhammad Tayyab and Haris to the case. All three persons are doing their own businesses and the Bureau could not establish their properties’ link to Kaimkhani.

Reporter Ehtisham Kiyani