The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament on Thursday issued instructions to place the names of the officers involved in the Broadsheet case on the Exit Control List (ECL).
The performance of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) came under discussion at the PAC huddle, presided over by its chairman Noor Alam Khan.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials informed the PAC that NAB had signed a contract with asset recovery firm Broadsheet in 2001.
It added that Pakistani authorities had paid around millions of dollars to a fake firm instead the actual Broadsheet LLC.
Later, Pakistan paid $28.7 million to Broadsheet after a legal battle with it in the UK.
At the time the initial contract was inked with Broadsheet, its then owner, Jerry James, had not disclosed the complete contents of that document.
The FIA officials claimed that then NAB chairman, legal consultant Ahmar Bilal Sufi, and Tariq Fawad Malik, the man who had laid the foundation of the entire mess, were to blame for the Broadsheet fiasco.
They added that a case had been registered against these men and Sufi was the only one of them still in the country while the others had escaped.
The PAC chief instructed the FIA that the names of these men should be placed on the ECL and red warrants be issued against them as well.
During the meeting, Noor asked NAB acting Chairman Zahir Shah if the anti-graft body and committee had any grudge against each other.
“I faul to understand why you people [NAB] are so reluctant to appear before the PAC. We are both against corruption,” he added.
The PAC chief further told him that when NAB summoned lawmakers, they did so without any hesitation.
He regretted that NAB officials challenged the authority of the PAC.
Noor told Shah that he had the authority to check his bank accounts and other assets.
He sarcastically added that he should be compensated if his wealth had decreased.
The PAC chairman added that if the proceedings of a corruption case against an officer were slow, he could forward it to the FIA.
“Why are cases pending since a decade? The people want to know that,” he asked Shah.
Recalling how NAB had disobeyed the PAC orders in the past, Noor pointed out that the public spending watchdog had sought the asset declarations of the anti-graft body’s officials, but the latter did not provide it with the required details.
Noor further noted that the PAC had sought a report from NAB on Tayyaba Gul, the woman at the centre of a 2021 video leak controversy involving then-NAB chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, but the anti-graft body had failed to do so.
Shah replied that NAB had appeared before the PAC whenever it was summoned.
He conceded that cases being handled by NAB were hit by delay, adding that they included those which required years to solve.
He pointed out that there were 540 suspects in the Tsunami Tree case.
“Even if I listen to each of them on a daily basis, 540 days will be needed for this purpose,” he added.
Shah told Noor that on the PAC’s directives, the SDG reference had been approved.
He further said the Peshawar BRT inquiry had been converted into an investigation.
He added that the burden of cases on the anti-graft body had reduced and it would try to solve cases within three months instead of six.
The PAC observed that there was nothing on the corruption worth Rs33 billion in sustainable projects.
NAB replied that a reference would be filed in this connection soon.
The anti-graft body informed the PAC that an embezzlement of Rs1.10 billion was detected involving the PWD in Bajaur and Mohmand projects.
However, it added that the PWD was not providing the record of the projects.
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