Accountability 'must' for those who were on the throne for 40 years: NAB chairman

He asked claimants to provide proof of any political meeting by the bureau.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (rtd) Javed Iqbal said on Thursday that the accountability of those who had been on the throne of Pakistan for 40 years was "must".

In his address to a programme, he said: “Those who are out on production orders have been complaining of political victimisation…The NAB doesn’t believe in political victimisation of any sort,” he said, adding that no question could be raised about it.

“I have never considered fee [of a case], instead the case itself…The NAB doesn’t have any conflict with anyone over properties.”

He asked claimants to provide proof of any political meeting [held by the NAB] or political victimisation, and said upon it, he would resign from the bureau.

“It is so easy to raise a slogan that the NAB has been involved in taking revenge…[I] have read in newspapers many a times that the NAB had been doing political engineering…the meaning of which I have come to know just now,” he added.

The NAB chairman stated that those who had been in power for 35 years should be brought to justice in the first place, and those who have been ruling for months are also being held accountable.

“Substantial evidences are available in all inquiries…NAB treats everyone equally whether someone is in power or not,” he went on to say, while pointing out that those who had motorcycles in 1980s and 1990s have built towers in Dubai.

“Money laundering of millions and billions of rupees has been done…No one becomes innocent by just showing a sign of victory and gathering a few people.”

“It is not our [the bureau’s] job to convict someone, but testimonies are presented before the courts, and it falls under the jurisdiction of the courts to make convictions,” he maintained.

The chairman said while-collar crime requires more effort, and people could not even comprehend how interrogation would be performed. “Would the bureau close its eyes even if testimonies are available?” he asked.

“No complaint has ever been reported of a bureaucrat…Here you would find dacoits on every nook and corner,” he stated.

He asserted that after getting retired from the Supreme Court, he had invested in DHA, and after making investment there, it was revealed DHA had not bought the property yet, and later the authorities [of DHA] contacted him and told him that his amount would be returned.

“It is because of the NAB that people are being returned their [looted] amounts…no institution has helped out victims,” he said, adding had the CDA performed its work correctly, the people were not investing so massively.

“The NAB is the only department that has been assisting people to get their money back, and it was the responsibility of the CDA to identify illegal societies,” he concluded.