Supreme Court. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
The Supreme Court has sought the correspondence record between the accountability watchdog and military headquarters regarding a probe into a multibillion-rupee investment scam that has dogged the National Logistics Cell (NLC) for more than five years.
The three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawja, was hearing the NLC scam case that involves three former army generals and a civilian official, who were found guilty after a five-year probe into allegations of financial irregularities.
In 2011, the PAC had directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to proceed against three army generals and two civilians for illegally investing Rs4.3 billion in the stock exchange that caused financial losses to the military-run body.
Read: Military probe finds two ex-generals guilty
Complying with the order, the anti-graft body on February 23, 2012 initiated an inquiry against Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Munir Khan, Lt Gen (retd) Muhammad Afzal Muzaffar, Maj Gen (retd) Khalid Zaheer Akhtar, Najeebullah Khan and Saeedur Rehman.
However, in a report submitted last month, the accountability watchdog informed the top court that military authorities were not cooperating in its investigations into the scandal. Authorities at NAB claimed they cannot finalise / conduct inquiry proceedings in isolation without provision of records.
While submitting the report on mega scams during Monday’s hearing, NAB Additional Prosecutor General (APG) Akbar Tarar informed the court that two retired generals and one civilian officer of the military-run NLC were found responsible for illegally investing in the stock market, while Lt-General Khalid Munir was acquitted because there was no evidence against him.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the report, the court quizzed Tarar over the anti-graft body’s inaction against the civilian officials involved in the financial embezzlement scandal.
Upon this, the NAB APG replied that the GHQ has the relevant documents related to the scam and the accountability watchdog was facing difficulties in obtaining the record.
The case has been pending before the accountability body for over five years, Justice Khawja retorted.
Defending the anti-graft body during the hearing, the NAB APG told the bench that the body had written a letter to GHQ 5 years ago, seeking trial of army officers involved in the scam under Pakistan Army Act 1952.
Presenting a brief chronology of key events, Tarar said that in 2012 an investigative officer was appointed to initiate the probe against individuals involved in the misappropriation. “On March 1, 2012, NAB wrote another letter to the GHQ asking for evidence collected during the investigation,” he added.
Tarar said he could provide the record of the case by next week and requested that it be examined in the chamber, considering the confidential nature of the documents.
Read: Army sentences two retired generals for Rs4b NLC scam
Rejecting the request, the judge directed him to provide the documents in a sealed envelope during the proceedings, adding that the court itself would decide its nature after examining the record. Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned for a week.
Last week, an inquiry conducted by a panel of high-ranking military officers held two retired generals and one civilian officer of the NLC accountable for illegally investing Rs4.3 billion in the stock market.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2015.
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