Illegal appointment: Gilani to appear before NAB in OGDCL case
Was accused of ordering appointment of friend, NRO beneficiary as MD.
ISLAMABAD:
Only days after replying to an enquiry over the appointment of former Hajj director general Rao Shakeel, former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani has been asked to explain another alleged illegal appointment.
This time, Gilani will personally appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on December 11 to face an interrogation over the appointment of Adnan Khawaja as the managing director of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) in 2010.
Gilani was accused of giving verbal orders for the appointment of Khawaja, his friend and a beneficiary of the National Reconciliation Ordinance, to the lucrative post of MD OGDCL. Khawaja allegedly has only completed his matriculation and did not have the qualifications to be appointed as MD.
The SC earlier directed NAB to launch a probe into Khawaja’s appointment. NAB filed a reference against former establishment secretary Ismail Qureshi and Interior Ministry Joint Secretary Ahsan Raja rather than against Gilani for the appointment of Khawaja as well as Ahmed Riaz Sheikh, another NRO beneficiary, as Additional Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
A NAB official said Gilani will have to appear before the investigation team and answer their questions on Khawaja’s appointment and his personal relations with the man who claimed to be Gilani’s jail mate.
“Earlier, Gilani has already denied knowing Khawaja. He claimed he was never friends with him,” said the official.
A Supreme Court bench, hearing the NRO implementation case on Tuesday, ordered NAB to suspend proceedings against the two officers involved in Khawaja and Sheikh’s appointments till the decision of the NRO implementation case was announced.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2012.
Only days after replying to an enquiry over the appointment of former Hajj director general Rao Shakeel, former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani has been asked to explain another alleged illegal appointment.
This time, Gilani will personally appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on December 11 to face an interrogation over the appointment of Adnan Khawaja as the managing director of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) in 2010.
Gilani was accused of giving verbal orders for the appointment of Khawaja, his friend and a beneficiary of the National Reconciliation Ordinance, to the lucrative post of MD OGDCL. Khawaja allegedly has only completed his matriculation and did not have the qualifications to be appointed as MD.
The SC earlier directed NAB to launch a probe into Khawaja’s appointment. NAB filed a reference against former establishment secretary Ismail Qureshi and Interior Ministry Joint Secretary Ahsan Raja rather than against Gilani for the appointment of Khawaja as well as Ahmed Riaz Sheikh, another NRO beneficiary, as Additional Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
A NAB official said Gilani will have to appear before the investigation team and answer their questions on Khawaja’s appointment and his personal relations with the man who claimed to be Gilani’s jail mate.
“Earlier, Gilani has already denied knowing Khawaja. He claimed he was never friends with him,” said the official.
A Supreme Court bench, hearing the NRO implementation case on Tuesday, ordered NAB to suspend proceedings against the two officers involved in Khawaja and Sheikh’s appointments till the decision of the NRO implementation case was announced.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2012.