LHC dismisses petition against NAB, declares the bureau 'independent'
LHC dismisses petition filed against NAB.
Dunya News Report (Yaruq Malik)
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has denied the allegations of working under the influence of political personalities and has told the Lahore High Court (LHC) that the bureau has been an ‘independent’ institution since it started working against the corrupt.
The petition against NAB was filed by Gohar Nawaz Sindhu, an advocate from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Lawyer’s Wing. In the petition, it was stated that the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, had heavily criticized the bureau’s investigations under the chairmanship of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry. It was also said that the PM tried to influence the NAB chairman in multiple corruption cases through his remarks.
The LHC dismissed the petition against NAB after a brief session stating that the bureau is working ‘independently’.
Previously, the Federal Minister for Information Pervaiz Rashid had accused the former military dictator, General (Rtd) Pervez Musharraf, of creating NAB to be used against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif.
While speaking to the reporters, the minister also accused Benazir Bhutto of ‘political victimization’ against the PML-N.
“Our accountability is being done for the last 20 years. First, it was done by the Pakistan People’s Party government led by Ms Benazir Bhutto and then by former president General Pervez Musharraf. General Musharraf was the architect of NAB and had we committed even a petty mistake, we would have been punished.” said the minister.
The minister heavily criticized the people who left the PML-N in 1999 and joined Pervez Musharraf.
“Those who were afraid of NAB had left the party and sided with then president General Musharraf in 1999.” Pervaiz Rashid told the reporters.
Moreover, NAB initiated disciplinary proceedings against 83 of its own officials. The report stated that 22 NAB officials have been penalized for various charges including the misuse of power and authority while serving at NAB. Chairman NAB, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry highlighted that the bureau finds it necessary to hold its own employees accountable under the internal accountability mechanism (IAM). He added that NAB is committed to cleanse its own hierarchy of officials, in order to resist any misuse of power and authority within the bureau.
“A NAB officer should have impeccable integrity and service discipline as he holds others accountable. Disciplinary matters are important for efficiency and effective performance of a system. We have taken strong actions against our own officials by taking a stock of complaints against them.” said the NAB chairman.
Furthermore, Justice Amir Hani Muslim had questioned the recent hiring made by NAB and had asked for the total number of people who are working at senior positions in the bureau for accountability. Justice Amir criticized the NAB for misusing the plea bargain act and questioned the Chairman NAB for the credibility of the act used by the institution as a process of consolidation in major corruption cases.
“Under the plea bargain act, a man accused of corruption charges worth Rs.100 million is released if he provides Rs. 10 million, then the same man is restored in his office where he gets involved in more corruption worth Rs. 200 million, what sort of a process is this?” said the judge in his remarks.
The Justice further added that if procedures under NAB continue in the same manner, then NAB should be shut down immediately.
“If this is how NAB works, it must be shut down,” Said Justice Amir.
After facing extreme criticism, the National Accountability Bureau provided the Supreme Court of Pakistan with a total of 150 ‘mega corruption’ cases worth billions of rupees. The document included the likes of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and many other prominent personalities.
NAB also launched an investigation against the Metro Bus Project in Lahore. It is reported that NAB has asked the Punjab Mass Transit Authority to provide all the necessary documentation related to the 27-km Metro Bus Project in Lahore.
NAB had requested for information about the senior project officials of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) and the Planning and Development Department.
The Chief Engineer at the LDA, Israr Saeed, has claimed that NAB contacted the LDA three years ago and was given copies of the documents regarding the Metro Bus Project. He added that NAB has not contacted since. However, the Chief Engineer at LDA said that if NAB contacts again, the LDA would co-operate without hesitation.
“NAB has not asked us to provide documents related to the metro bus project in recent days. When they had contacted us three years ago, they sought various documents about the project. We provided copies of a number of documents to NAB at that time. However, we will always welcome NAB if it wants to know more about the project,” the Chief Engineer at LDA said.
A recent press release stated that NAB, through its prosecution strategies against the corrupt, has recovered Rs 266.544 billion thus far. After facing criticism and a possible shutdown from Justice Amir Hani Muslim, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is striking hard against corruption cases across the country. NAB has provided the Supreme Court of Pakistan with ample evidence of alleged ‘foul play’ across Pakistan and within the bureau.
