Supreme Court. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) directed on Wednesday the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and police to conduct separate inquiries into illegal appointments, corruption and unfair distribution of investigation funds in the Sindh police initiated against former IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali.
A three-member bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Saqib Nisar, also directed them to submit their reports within two months.
The bench, which also comprised Justices Amir Hani Muslim and Khilji Arif Hussain, was hearing suo motu cases at its Karachi registry regarding illegal appointments in the Sindh Reserve Police (SRP), unfair disbursement of funds meant for investigation and cops with patchy characters.
The apex court had, at the suggestion and with the consent of the provincial government, constituted three committees to investigate the allegations of unfair distribution of investigation funds, illegal recruitments in the SRP and corruption and action against bad cops.
On Tuesday, a committee appointed by the apex court, headed by Sindh IG AD Khawaja, had recommended action against 461 policemen due to their involvement in criminal activities. However, the case's hearing was put off due to Jamali's absence.
Asma Jahangir, who represented Jamali, informed the judges that NAB’s inquiry was influencing inquiries already initiated by the SC-appointed committees against her client.
She pleaded the court to direct NAB not to influence the police inquiries in order to ensure transparency. The judges observed that both inquiries were being conducted separately.
They, however, directed NAB to ensure the inquiry into illegal appointments, corruption and funds distribution be conducted in an independent and transparent manner. They also directed NAB and police to complete their investigation within two months and submit reports to the court.
Meanwhile, IG Khawaja filed an application requesting the court to allow him to distance himself from the three court-appointed committees whose supervision was given to him by the court.
Earlier, Jamali had expressed serious concerns over inquiries by then DIGs — AD Khawaja and Sanaullah Abbasi. According to him, both officers were biased, thus he did not expect just and fair investigations.
The bench directed deputy NAB prosecutor-general Amjad Ali Shah to file monthly reports regarding the investigation, along with monthly interim reports.
"The NAB shall conclude the investigation within a period of two months from today and shall file compliance report," they added.
Advocate Jahangir said NAB was conducting inquiries on a different subject pursuant to court orders. Correcting her, the judges said NAB had commenced inquiries independent of any SC order and "We are sanguine that such investigations shall continue to be conducted independently and monthly periodical report shall be submitted."
The judges said, "We may further observe that the NAB authorities would be free to benefit themselves with the material collected by the inquiry committee referred to in the previous order to conclude the proposed inquiry."
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2016.
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