The National Accountability Bureau has begun an investigation into whether former president Asif Ali Zardari owns an apartment in New York. Zardari has filed a request in the Islamabad High Court seeking pre-arrest bail in the case.

NAB sent a notice to Zardari saying he did not disclose owning the New York property. They also let him know they could not ascertain whether legal sums were sent from Pakistan to the US for the purchase of the property.

The former president wrote in his petition that he received NAB's notice on June 15 and wanted time to reply. He was gathering information on the property he explained.

"There is a history of NAB targeting me," he wrote in petition, adding that he was unwell and under medical treatment.

Zardari requested the high court to grant him bail till the final verdict in the case, and to declare the notice sent by NAB, illegal reported Geo News.

News of this property first surfaced in a tweet by federal minister Ali Zaidi in 2018. Then he posted images reportedly of property tax bills of the New York apartment he said was owned by Zardari.

The PTI had filed a reference with the Election Commission of Pakistan saying Zardari hid the property in his nomination papers. They called for Zardari to be disqualified.

Zardari won his seat from NA 213 in the 2018 elections.