Former DG NAB appointed PM's accountability czar
Brigadier (retd) Muhammad Musaddiq Abbasi. PHOTO: FILE
The government on Wednesday appointed former director-general of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Brigadier (retd) Muhammad Musaddiq Abbasi as Prime Minister's adviser on accountability and interior.
President Arif Alvi, on the advise of Prime Minister Imran Khan, appointed the ex-NAB chief on the post in the exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 93 of the Constitution.
The appointment was confirmed by the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib.
The development comes a few days after Shehzad Akbar announced to step down from the post.
Also read: PM Imran's accountability czar Shahzad Akbar bows out
Contrary to his announcement, key ministers, while requesting anonymity, had confirmed that Akbar was “sacked” because PM Imran was not satisfied with his performance.
According to them, the former accountability chief failed to deliver despite frequently making claims, and ‘misguided’ the premier.
Following Akbar’s exit, names of some candidates were considered. The task of the new chief would remain the same, that is to show immediate results in the cases against Sharifs and Zardaris as the ruling party has long been vowing to ‘hold the powerful accountable over their corruption’.
Also read: Exit Shahzad Akbar
Akbar had been serving as the special assistant to the PM (SAPM) on accountability and interior since the PTI government came into power in August 2018. However, on July 23, 2020, he was upgraded as an adviser to the PM with the authority of a federal minister.
Sources cite “zero recoveries” by the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) since its inception as another factor that led to him being sacked, adding that he “mislead” PM Imran during his briefings regarding accountability cases.
The accountability chief’s ‘sacking’ coincided with the report of Transparency International, a global corruption watchdog, that placed Pakistan at the 140th position out of 180 countries on its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for the year 2021.