Four senior officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) continue to hold their posts despite the expiration of their contracts with the help of the director of NAB’s Rawalpindi office.
The four officers working in NAB Rawalpindi on expired contracts are, Riaz Kareem, the director of the Financial Crime Investigation Wing (FCIW), Colonel (retd) Iqbal Bhatti, also at the FCIW, Muhammad Tahir Nizami of Investigation Wing I and Tahseen Siddiqi of Investigation Wing II.
Director General of NAB Rawalpindi Rana Zahid Mehmood has allegedly refused to relieve the officers of their duties despite the expiration of their contracts and has asked NAB headquarters to review and extend their tenure.
NAB headquarters, however, has made it clear that only the NAB chief would have the authority to do so and in the absence of a director general, the officers in question must be relieved. Mehmood had yet to comply with those instructions.
Sources close to the NAB allege that Mehmood has, in the past, transferred or retained officers based on their degree of compliance with his requests, which are not always ethical or legal, including signing off on reimbursements for fuel that was never used or other unjustifiable reimbursements.
Responding to such allegations, NAB headquarters has required that all transfers of officers be undertaken with the permission of the NAB chief. Mehmood’s requests for transfers of officers were frequently denied by NAB headquarters.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 1st, 2011.
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