SHC irked by NAB’s poor performance

Chief justice observes NAB, respondents may be in collusion with each other

KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh observed on Friday that the investigations officer of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had a ‘nexus’ with the accused, including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Pir Mazharul Haq, against whom they had not filed progress reports in corruption cases despite the lapse of years.

The top provincial judge gave this observation while taking serious exception to failure of the NAB prosecutors and investigation officers in submitting reports on the progress in corruption inquiries against Pir Mazharul and other accused, who had obtained interim pre-arrest bail from the court three to four years ago.

Pir Mazharul had approached the court in 2015 against alleged harassment by NAB in connection with an inquiry into illegal appointments and misuse of funds in the education department. The PPP leader had claimed that he came to know through the media that NAB decided to initiate an inquiry against him regarding his involvement as a senior minister in the previous PPP-led government in unlawful use of government funds and illegal recruitments after the 2008 elections. Later, NAB authorities had informed the court that he was involved in massive corruption made in as many as 13,000 fake appointments in the education department.



Granting him interim pre-arrest bail, the court had since repeatedly directed the investigation officer to submit progress reports of the inquiries but the IO failed to submit the same.

During Friday’s proceedings, the bench took serious notice of the IO’s failure to file the progress reports and asked him why this not been done despite repeated directives and the lapse of almost three years.

CJ Sheikh questioned what the NAB investigation officers were doing if they failed to submit progress reports. “Do you need 10 years to complete the inquiry?” he asked the IO, who failed to give a satisfactory answer.

CJ Sheikh observed that it appeared that the NAB authorities first issue call-up notices to the suspects to produce documents and once they submit such documents, the references are filed on the basis of the documents instead of doing investigation on their own. He also came down hard on the petitioner Pir Mazharul and Mumtazul Haq and their lawyers, as all of them were absent from the court during the hearing.

They issued show-cause notices to both the petitioners with directions to submit written explanations as to why their bail should not be recalled for not appearing in court after obtaining bail. The next hearing was fixed on June 23.



Lands' illegal sale

While hearing another matter relating to the bail of an accused nominated in a NAB inquiry into alleged illegal sale of land at throwaway prices, CJ Sheikh observed it had become a normal practice that the lawyers ‘disappear’ after obtaining bails of the accused.

He observed that interim bails granted to accused who face charges of severe nature may be dismissed and they may be sent to jail in case their lawyers failed to appear in future.

The top provincial judge remarked that the performance of the national anti-graft watchdog’s prosecutors and investigation officers seems very poor. “The inquiries into cases of important nature are pending, despite the lapse of many years,” he noted, adding that it seems as if the NAB investigation officers have colluded with the accused.

He further went on to observe that in case the NAB prosecutors and investigation officers failed to submit progress reports in corruption cases, the accused may be released on bail from the jails.



He noted with concern that the NAB investigation officer had failed to submit progress reports against three accused - Syed Iqbal Hasan, Faisal and Ali Sher Mirani - whom the bureau had accused of selling 66 acres of state land in Gadap Town at throwaway rates, causing losses worth millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

They also took serious notice of the absence of the applicants’ lawyer, who had not been appearing in court since the bails were granted.

Fixing the matter on June 23, the court ordered the applicants’ lawyer and NAB authorities to appear and submit progress reports by the next date of the hearing.