Threats, offensive language can’t stop us from taking legal action: NAB

Bilawal had announced that he would not appear before the ‘fake anti-corruption body’

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has said that threats and use of offensive language by the chairman of a political party cannot stop it from taking legal action against suspects.

The statement, issued by a spokesperson of the anti-corruption watchdog on Tuesday, came a day after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned NAB that he would skip his schedule appearance before its investigation team in Rawalpindi today.

The watchdog is probing into a transfer of Rs1.22 billion to JV Opal from an account of Zardari Group of Companies.

Bilawal, in a news conference in Karachi on Monday, said the then chief justice of Pakistan had stated that the PPP chairman had “nothing to do” with the fake case accounts case. Despite this, he continued, he had appeared before NAB to answer its questions.

In today’s statement, the NAB spokesperson declared Bilawal’s refusal to appear before its probing team contrary to assurance the PPP chairman had given to the watchdog’s Rawalpindi chapter in a letter.

Through his counsel, the NAB spokesperson added, Bilawal submitted an application saying he had no objection to appearing before the investigators after January 15.

Bilawal refuses to appear before NAB

“NAB is an institution that operates to eradicate corruption from the country in accordance with the law. It believes in recording statements from any individual in connection with an ongoing investigation so that the person concerned is not deprived of his legal right and that the legal obligations are fulfilled.”

Bilawal’s presser came hours after the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal by NAB in the Narowal Sports City (NSC) Project case. Bilawal said: “NAB-Niazi nexus is exposed with the arrest of yet another opposition politician.”

The PPP chairman wondered how the ministers of the “selected government” could know about future moves of NAB. “What kind of accountability is this?” he asked, appealing to the judiciary to intervene and protect human rights of the opposition leaders.

NAB is investigating fake accounts cases against Bilawal’s father and PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Zardari, and aunt, Faryal Talpur, who also have the shares in the Zardari Group. They both are among the key accused in a multi-billion rupees money laundering scandal that surfaced last year.