SC grills NAB for no progress on RPPs, OGRA chairman cases

Apex court states NAB is reluctant to take action against influential persons involved in the said cases.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday were at loggerheads over the issue of implementation of court’s decision in cases related to the Rental Power Projects (RPPs) and the illegal appointment of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) chairman.  

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was of the opinion that the NAB was reluctant to take action against influential persons involved in the case including the incumbent prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

Premier Ashraf is among the five responsible persons who recommended Tauqir Sadiq to be appointed as the Ogra chairman despite him failing to meet the requirement of the post.

Ashraf is also one of the main accused in the case regarding misappropriations in RPPs.

The Supreme Court, in these two separate cases, had passed judgements and asked NAB to take necessary action against responsible persons including Ashraf.

The court subsequently issued contempt notices to seven officials belonging to the bureau for not implementing court orders. While, one of the investigators told the bench that they were removed from the investigation panel since July 2.

NAB’s prosecutor general Karim Khan Agha took shelter behind the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) for non-implementation of the judgements, saying that a clause in the ordinance states that if an accused returned the misappropriated amount, the cases against him would end and he would not be prosecuted and that the NAB officials were in negotiation with the accused for recovery.

During the hearing, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja observed that the NAB was protecting criminals by not initiating legal action against them despite court’s orders.

“NAB is completely ignoring the criminal aspect of this case and is defending the wrongdoers,” he said.

The chief justice said that criminal proceedings were necessary to deter future criminals.

Agha insisted that the court cannot interfere in the investigations carried out by the bureau and that it was NAB’s job to examine the allegations in its own way.

The chief justice told Agha that the bureau will not be allowed to ignore the court’s orders, to which the prosecutor general replied saying that the NAO was passed by the parliament which is supreme to all other institutions.

The bench, while expressing its dissatisfaction over NAB’s progress report, asked the bureau’s prosecutor to produce terms of references and proceedings of NAB’s executive board meetings regarding the procedure adopted for investigation into the case for implementation of the court’ orders for the RPPs scam.

The chief justice stated that the court will proceed further once the required records are submitted and reviewed. He said that if the progress made by the bureau is not satisfactory, action will be taken against the concerned officials including the NAB chairman, who asked court for more time.

The court adjourned the hearing till October 16.