Ghani questions NAB’s newly-formed committee

Says NAB has been left with the mandate to investigate only members of PPP

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Information and Archives and Labour Saeed Ghani has said that the mandate given to the recently constituted committee, comprising members of the business community by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, was in contravention of to Section 33-C of the NAB Ordinance.

Ghani, while addressing a press conference on Monday, said that Section 33-C of the NAB ordinance gave the NAB chairperson the authority to form various committees, but it did not give him the power to give mandate to a committee to decide who to prosecute and who not to.

He added that according to the section of the NAB ordinance, the committees formed by the NAB chairman could give recommendations to him about improving the rules and regulations or make suggestions about creating better awareness in general public.

The provincial minister stated that courts and Pakistan Army have their own mechanism of accountability and are exempt from investigation in the NAB ordinance, while the bureaucrats were ensured by the NAB chairman to work fearlessly and now the members of business community had also been exempted from accountability due to the newly constituted committee.

NAB forms panel to allay businessmen's reservations

"It seemed that the institution of NAB had been left with a mandate to investigate only those politicians who belong either to the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) or to other opposition parties," he said. "Politicians belonging to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) were out of the purview of the NAB."

He claimed that the committee comprising members of the business community set up by the NAB was illegal and aimed at controlling businessmen.

PM's visit to Karachi

Responding to a question about the meeting of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Ghani said that even if they do not like each other, they should meet as they both hold constitutional positions.

He claimed that the PM visited Karachi to resolve the internal differences of the PTI. Ghani expressed the hope that the members of Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) would question the PM about Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan's (MQM-P) proposal regarding Article 239 of the Constitution. Moreover, he said that he expected MQM-P to ask the PM about the Rs162 billion package for Karachi.

The provincial minister said that they had not asked for funds from the federal government as charity, so if they would not release the funds, the provincial government would question them. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2019.