Rental power projects case: Report sought on removal of RPPs investigators
Apex court directs NAB to identify the officials responsible.
Three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, resumed the hearing of the RPPs implementation case
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court on Friday issued directives to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit a report by identifying those officials who were behind the removal of investigators in the rental power projects (RPPs) case on January 15.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, resumed the hearing of the RPPs implementation case and asked NAB chairman Fasih Bukhari to look into the investigation of the case personally on a case-by-case basis.
During the course of the hearing, Deputy Prosecutor General NAB Fouzi Zafar said that the Director General of the top anti-graft body’s Rawalpindi office, Sobhu Sadiq, Principal Secretary NAB, Brigadier (Retd) Farooq Nasir Awan and Director General Operations Shehzad Bhatti were suspended for removing Asghar Khan from the probe. Zafar added that Khan was reinstated to the investigation in the RPPs case.
However, he informed the court that all the officials have been assigned the task to probe the matter once again.
“Instead of giving cover to corruption, NAB is supposed to eradicate it. The committed officers are being removed from the investigation,” Chief Justice Chaudhry observed. “Arrest the accused whether they are small or big,” the chief justice maintained.
Earlier, the bench had refused to entertain Rana Bashir, an official of NAB, who was representing the anti-graft body on behalf of Zafar. Chief Justice Chaudhry stated that the court was hearing Zafar’s arguments on the issue from the beginning and it could not listen to other officials on the same matter.
The chief justice directed Bashir to return to Zafar and tell him to present himself before the bench within an hour, before the proceedings of the case were adjourned for a brief period. Zafar then arrived at the apex court and informed the bench that he was not feeling well which was why he was unable to appear before the bench.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2013.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued directives to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit a report by identifying those officials who were behind the removal of investigators in the rental power projects (RPPs) case on January 15.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, resumed the hearing of the RPPs implementation case and asked NAB chairman Fasih Bukhari to look into the investigation of the case personally on a case-by-case basis.
During the course of the hearing, Deputy Prosecutor General NAB Fouzi Zafar said that the Director General of the top anti-graft body’s Rawalpindi office, Sobhu Sadiq, Principal Secretary NAB, Brigadier (Retd) Farooq Nasir Awan and Director General Operations Shehzad Bhatti were suspended for removing Asghar Khan from the probe. Zafar added that Khan was reinstated to the investigation in the RPPs case.
However, he informed the court that all the officials have been assigned the task to probe the matter once again.
“Instead of giving cover to corruption, NAB is supposed to eradicate it. The committed officers are being removed from the investigation,” Chief Justice Chaudhry observed. “Arrest the accused whether they are small or big,” the chief justice maintained.
Earlier, the bench had refused to entertain Rana Bashir, an official of NAB, who was representing the anti-graft body on behalf of Zafar. Chief Justice Chaudhry stated that the court was hearing Zafar’s arguments on the issue from the beginning and it could not listen to other officials on the same matter.
The chief justice directed Bashir to return to Zafar and tell him to present himself before the bench within an hour, before the proceedings of the case were adjourned for a brief period. Zafar then arrived at the apex court and informed the bench that he was not feeling well which was why he was unable to appear before the bench.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2013.