PAC displeased with NAB’s performance

NAB chief summoned tomorrow; seeks briefing from aviation division on Roosevelt Hotel lease

ISLAMABAD:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament, while expressing its dissatisfaction with the performance of the country's premier graft buster, on Tuesday summoned the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman on June 8.

The PAC met here with its chairman Noor Alam Khan in the chair. The meeting was scheduled to review the audit paras of the Aviation Ministry, but the matter was postponed because there had been no meeting of the Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC).

During the meeting, the chair observed that no progress had been made on most of the cases referred by PAC to the graft buster. Noor Alam Khan added that the NAB chairman must put his own house in order.

"A meeting with the NAB chairman will be held on June 8. The NAB chairman should hold his own organisation accountable. He should also look into the assets of NAB employees," the PAC chairman observed.

The committee also sought a briefing from the Aviation Division on the Roosevelt Hotel, New York. Khan expressed his displeasure over the absence of the PIA chairman. The committee was informed that the PIA chairman had gone to attend a conference.

The chair asked the CAA officials why the DAC had not been holding its meetings for the last four months. He warned that disciplinary action should be taken against the aviation secretary for not holding the DAC meeting.

Khan said that a letter of displeasure should be issued to the secretary, and that the prime minister should also be informed about the matter. He said that he would recommend that the salaries of the secretaries should be stopped for not holding DAC meetings.

Taking notice of the arrest of the father of senior politician Nadeem Afzal Chan, Khan said that the Punjab police had arrested an 85-year-old person in the middle of the night in violation of the law and human rights.

"The Punjab chief secretary, the inspector general of police, and the home secretary should answer in three days why an 85-year-old man was arrested?” Khan added that the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister should also take notice of this matter."

"Why are they not arresting those who incited the people to arson? Those who are guilty should be brought to book and those who instigated the attacks on May 9 should be arrested," the PAC chairman stressed.