Key witness against Dar sacked, NAB told

NADRA appoints new focal person to assist prosecution

ISLAMABAD: The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) informed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday that one of the key prosecution witnesses in a graft reference against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has been removed from service.

The development surfaced after NAB sent a ‘notice of readiness’ to NADRA Operations Director Syed Qaboos Aziz, directing him to be ready to record his statement along with necessary documents in connection with the reference pending before an accountability court. Aziz is one of the 28 prosecution witnesses in the case.

“You are prosecution witness in the reference. Hence you are requested to be available for recording of evidence along with necessary record in this month on short notice,” the NAB notice said.

NADRA responded that the officer had been ‘separated from service’ and that he might be contacted at his residential address. NADRA also informed NAB that for any other assistance it had appointed another officer, Ghazali Zahid, as the focal person on behalf of the authority.



Aziz’s service was terminated two days after he submitted the record of members of Dar’s family to the anti-corruption watchdog in connection with the preparation of the reference against him over the accumulation of assets beyond his known sources of income.

Keeping in view the NAB’s allegation of acquiring assets in his own and his dependents’ names, Qaboos is a valuable witness as he provided the complete family tree of Dar, which enabled the bureau to identify some assets abroad in the name of a relative of his.

A NADRA spokesperson clarified that Aziz could appear as a witness before the accountability court; however, for any further assistance the authority had appointed a new focal person.

Aziz was appointed as the focal person after NAB asked NADRA to assign a senior officer to courier by hand to its investigators the information about Dar’s family that was needed in connection with investigations regarding the reference filed on September 8. The package was handed over to NAB investigators by Aziz on August 21.



On August 23, he was handed a termination letter without assigning any particular reason. “It is to inform you that your service contract is hereby terminated with immediate effect,” the letter said, citing a clause of the contract with binds NADRA to pay three-month salary to an employee at the time of the termination of his service. Qaboos had joined NADRA in 2001 as a database administrator.

According to a source, Qaboos may file an application with the monitoring judge of the Panamagate case, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, against his termination from service.