Expediting accountability: NAB chief to review two ex-prime ministers’ cases soon

Official says evidence against Yousaf Raza Gilani and Pervaiz Ashraf is overwhelming.

ISLAMABAD:

Several references are likely to be filed against former prime ministers Yousaf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in the accountability courts following the go-ahead by National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) chief Qaman Zamar Chaudhry. The references in question had been pending for months.

“The cases against Ashraf and Gilani were likely to be taken up by the chairman for review within a week,” said a NAB official, adding that the evidence collected against both the ex-premiers by the NAB investigators was overwhelming and sufficient enough to get convictions from the court.

However, he said the chairman had the authority to send back the cases and order further investigations in case he thought the evidence gathered against the suspects was not strong enough.



He said the NAB chief was likely to sign the cases for filing references against the former heads of governments in accountability courts.

“After the references are filed, the courts would summon both Gilani and Ashraf to defend the allegations levelled against them and to deny the evidences collected by the investigators to substantiate their claims,” the officer added.

Ashraf was accused of violating the rules and inflicting heavy losses to the public exchequer by awarding rental power projects (RPPs) contracts to foreign companies while working in the capacity of water and power minister.



Former premier Gilani, on the other hand, had allegedly appointed an incompetent individual as the head of one of the country’s top most profit-making institutions, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), besides gaining financial benefits from the appointment.

“In normal cases, a conviction is certain if 70 % evidence is collected against a suspect. Chances of conviction are very slim in cases where the evidence collected is below 50%,” said the officer.

However, he said the NAB investigators had sufficient evidence against both Gilani and Ashraf.

Pending cases

The NAB chairman constituted a special committee to finalise all pending cases with NAB regional offices. The committee, headed by the deputy chairman and consisting of the additional prosecutor general accountability (APGA), director general (operations), and two other DGs, will formally start functioning from Monday.

To ensure expeditious disposal of all cases pending for over three years, the committee will prioritise the cases and pending references according to the level of importance.

The NAB regional offices besides the headquarters have close to 1,000 complaints pending — awaiting chairman’s approval before the investigators can take them up. These include allegations of graft against politicians and bureaucrats, a NAB officer said. Investigations would begin soon after the approval by Chaudhry.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2013.