NAB chief may face contempt in Musharraf case

Two-member IHC bench will hear assets beyond means case

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear a contempt petition against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman on Monday over his failure to take action against former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in assets beyond known sources of income case.

A bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan will hear the case.

A two-member bench of the high court had on January 25, 2018, ordered that the anti-graft watchdog may take action against the former general over charges of corruption.

The petitioner said the accountability courts have convicted many people accused of corruption but the former general was still at large, adding that NAB could have proceeded further in the case.

The petitioner, Lt Col (retd) Inamur Rahim, sought inquiry against the former president over allegations that he in his nomination papers had declared assets beyond his known sources of income.

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Mr Rahim had filed a complaint almost a decade ago, asking NAB to launch a probe into the same. However, the bureau had refused to conduct this inquiry stating that it lacks jurisdiction in the matter because as a member of the armed forces the general was immune from being proceeded against under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

However, in a judgement issued in February 2018, the court ruled: “The bureau is vested with the power and jurisdiction to consider the complaint of the petitioner and after such consideration, if it is of the opinion that an offence under the Ordinance of 1999 is prima facie made out, then it will become a duty of the latter to proceed to inquire, investigate and take all other steps mandated under the Ordinance of 1999.”

The petitioner argued that Mr Musharraf, as the chief of the army staff and the country’s president, violated his oath of defending the country and protecting its citizens.

He claimed that Musharraf owns eight immovable assets in the form of property in Pakistan and two abroad. He has under his name three properties in Karachi, two in Islamabad and one each in Lahore and Gwadar.

It said Musharraf owns another property in Karachi under his wife’s name and two properties in UAE and the United Kingdom respectively. Apart from them, he owns three vehicles, two Land Cruisers and one Corolla under his name and four vehicles under his wife’s name.

Rahim claimed that Musharraf’s assets do not match with his income sources.