National treasury facing Rs6b to Rs8b loss per day: NAB chairman

NAB chairman says Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was interrogated for 3 hours before he was made the prime minister.

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau Chief (NAB) Fasih Bukhari has said that due to corruption, the national treasury is facing a Rs6 billion to Rs8 billion loss per day, Express News reported on Saturday.

The NAB chairman said that the bureau’s job was to recover the 'stolen' money, not prosecute. He however added that if anyone was found guilty, they would be prosecuted.

“Till now, NAB has recovered Rs235 billion for the treasury but this is not enough,” said Bukhari, adding that the government has given approval for recruiting 300 new investigators.

Ongoing corruption cases

Referring to the rental power project case, National Accounability Bureau Chief Fasih Bukhari enquired whether the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) had placed Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL) as yet.

The chairman also said that the Ashraf was interrogated for 3 hours before he was made the prime minister.

Bukhari told the media that a joint investigation team (JIT) including the FIA, NAB and police among others had been formed for investigating the Arsalan Iftikhar case and will be headed by the NAB director general (DG) Financial Crime Investigation Cell, as per the order of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General’s letter.

Speaking on the issue of conducting an unbiased investigation, the NAB chief said, “It doesn’t matter if we know Malik Riaz or Nawaz Sharif, the investigation will be unbiased.” He also added that he had never taken any money from Malik Riaz.

Referring to Arsalan Ifitikhar’s  letter which he sent through his lawyer, the NAB chief said it was insolent through. “The letter is threatening, it uses threatening language, said Bukhari, adding that a notice will be taken in this regard.

Bukhari said that although the Sharif brothers’ case could yield just Rs3 billion and the Swiss letter case, Rs6 billion but the case of former Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) chairman Tauqeer Sadiq could restore Rs55 billion to the treasury. He told the media that a warrant was to be issued for Tauqeer Sadiq’s arrest.