Political interference: Whose side is NAB on?

Investigators routinely transferred for prosecuting politicians.

LAHORE: For all its aggressiveness, the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) record in convicting politicians and civil servants is not very impressive. Far from prosecuting corruption at the highest levels, NAB officials have reportedly assisted in the cover up of scandals, going so far as to make some of its officers apologise to the targets of their investigation.

In one case, sources revealed that a senior official at NAB, Kausar Iqbal, pressured one of his subordinates, Sahibzada Rifaat Rauf, to apologise to Senators Waqar and Amar Khan and their father, former senator Gulzar Khan, for issuing them a summons in connection to an alleged Rs1.3 billion foreign exchange fraud for which Rauf was the investigating officer.

Iqbal asked Rauf to meet him at a local hotel where Senator Waqar Khan threatened him with dire consequences if he did not withdraw the investigation and apologise. Rauf found the senator’s threats offensive and he said that he was not the criminal and should not have to apologise.

He then dared the senator to do his worst saying that he was the son of a senior police official and the senator was only the son of a patwari [village land records official], suggesting that no matter what the senator did, Rauf would be able to retain his privileged position. He then knocked the senator to the ground and began to beat him.

After the outburst, Rauf was transferred to Balochistan by the chairman of NAB.

A permanent employee of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Rauf is on a three-year deputation to NAB Punjab. While his deputation expired in January, he appeared before the Supreme Court in connection to his investigation of the foreign exchange fraud involving the senators.

In the next hearing of the case, when the court asked for Rauf to appear, they were told that he had been transferred to NAB Balochistan for ethical violations.

NAB headquarters in Islamabad has sent a request to the National Bank, asking them to direct Rauf to report to NAB Balochistan, but Rauf has refused to do on grounds that his contract with NAB has expired. Rauf, though confirming the incident, declined to comment for the story.

In a similar case, another NAB investigator, Allah Rakha, was transferred to Balochistan after he refused to give in to the demands of an associate of the financial fraud mastermind known as “Double Shah”, who wanted some of the money NAB had recovered in its investigation to be handed over to him. A recorded telephone conversation reveals that the transfer orders were issued by the chairman of NAB.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2011.