Mandviwalla vows to get NAB blacklisted worldwide

Says anti-graft watchdog uses ‘intimidation tactics, files fake arrests and commits atrocities’

OUR CORRESPONDENT:

Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla on Sunday once again lashed out at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and vowed to get the anti-corruption watchdog “blacklisted” not only in Pakistan but across the world.

Addressing a news conference in the federal capital, Mandviwalla told reporters that a requisition to summon the Senate session had been prepared and claimed that several people had died in the NAB custody.

“[We] will call the [Senate] session at every cost. The meeting will also discuss the deaths that occurred in the custody of NAB. [We] will call the relatives of the deceased to the meeting,” he stated.

He said all those who had struck a plea bargain with the NAB would also be called to the Senate session and will be asked about the treatment meted out to them by the bureau.

Mandviwalla vowed to hold the anti-graft watchdog “accountable” for its actions and launch an unprecedented investigation against it.

He said the NAB had become a laughing stock and their "actions had lost credibility in the bureaucracy, judiciary, civil society and even among members of the business community".

The Senate deputy chairman alleged that anti-graft watchdog used intimidation tactics, filed fake arrests and committed brutalities in the name of justice.

"Now the senators will hold the NAB accountable. We will approach all the ambassadors and parliamentarians and will expose NAB's atrocities," he said.

"I will not only have NAB blacklisted in Pakistan but across the world," he asserted.

Mandviwalla said that with the help of the government and opposition, he would make efforts to introduce legislation to curb the powers of the anti-graft buster.

He observed that the conflict was no longer between him and the NAB, but between the anti-graft watchdog and the entire country, adding that there was a consensus across the political spectrum that the bureau be exposed.

The senator said he had written a letter to the premier regarding the NAB's conduct and would also write to the army chief in this regard.

"We will check the degrees of NAB's employees. It will be for the first time when NAB will be held accountable... how its employees are leading a lifestyle beyond their means," he said.

The deputy chairman stressed that no one would be able to stop him from conducting an investigation, and that he will not fall prey to NAB’s “intimidation tactics”.

"Unlike the probes carried out by the NAB, this investigation will not be conducted inside a closed room. The trial will be conducted in front of the media, and facts will be presented in front of everyone," he said.

Mandviwalla claimed that Senate’s move against NAB was not targeted at a particular person but against all the “injustices” that the bureau had committed.

The anti-corruption establishment had recently frozen the Senate deputy chairman’s assets in connection with a fake accounts case.

According to a report submitted by the bureau, Mandviwalla had allegedly bought benami shares in the name of a person who was an accused in a fake accounts case.