SC reprimands corruption watchdogs

Expresses concern over failure to implement court’s orders.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Monday reprimanded officials of the country’s two top anti-corruption authorities – the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) – for not complying with the apex court’s orders.

A three-member bench heard two separate cases of financial misappropriation. One case pertains to the illegal appointment of former chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Tauqir Sadiq, who has been implicated by NAB in an Rs83 billion scam. The other case is related to disbursement of special bonuses by the National bank of Pakistan (NBP).

The bench maintained NAB officials were given more than three weeks to implement the court’s orders but failed to do so. “NAB Chairman Fasih Bukhari is flouting the Supreme Court’s orders,” said Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2012.