ISLAMABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Tuesday furnished the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with his response to the questionnaire handed to him by the bureau in a liquor licence case.

The chief minister through the Advocate General submitted the four-page reply to the bureau, which was prepared in light of 17 questions put to him by the national graft buster in connection with its ongoing inquiry against him for allegedly receiving Rs50 million to get a liquor licence issued to a hotel.

CM Buzdar stated that he played no role in the issuance of the liquor licence in question, nor did he do anything wrong in this regard. He said the Excise and Taxation director general has powers to issue liquor licences.

A total of eleven licences were issued, out which nine were issued by the director general himself, he said, adding the then Punjab governor issued licences in 2000 and 2001. He said he had rejected a summary sent to him by Excise and Taxation Director General Akram Gondal for issuance of a licence over want of powers.

Gondal sent another summary to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat after issuing the licence but the chief minister’s principal secretary sent back the summary for having been sent to irrelevant forum, he said, adding the excise and taxation minister then suspended the liquor licence of the hotel but a single bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) later ordered restoration of the licence in 2019.

An intra-court appeal against the verdict is pending disposal, Buzdar explained, adding not a single liquor bottle was sold on the licence of the hotel that has also applied for its renewal. The allegations levelled against him are baseless, he maintained.