LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to decide an application seeking an inquiry against former federal minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and his brother, former provincial minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, on charges of accumulating illegal assets.

A two-judge bench comprising Justice Farooq Haider and Justice Ali Zia Bajwa disposed of a petition filed by Ahsan Abid, a lawyer from Rahim Yar Khan, with a direction to the NAB to decide his application in accordance with law within three weeks.

The lawyer stated that the Makhdoom brothers owned six sugar mills, several investment companies and agricultural land, alleging that these assets were beyond known sources of their income.

He said the names ofthe Makhdoom brothers also appeared in `Pandora Papers` and `Swiss Papers` but no action had been initiated against them.

He said the NAB`s Multan office had conducted an inquiry during 2018 into the assets of the Makhdoom family and found them `unexplained`.

He said a regional board meeting on Dec 11, 2018, decided to forward the matter to the NAB headquarters, with recommendation for an inquiry and further action in accordance with law.

The petitioner said the NAB was bound to complete the inquiry and submit its report before the relevant accountability court. However, he alleged, the bureau had not submitted the report due tothe pressure ofthe federal minister.

He asked the court to issue an order to the NAB to decide his application pending for a long and prepare a reference against the political family on his complaint.