SC found Zaman guilty in the matter alongside then commerce minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim. PHOTO: FILE
In a hard-hitting verdict, the Supreme Court ordered the top graft watchdog on Friday to register cases against the top bureaucrats and politicians involved in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scandal.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, directed that all investigations into the multibillion-rupee scandal be handed over to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
At the same time, the court issued directives for initiating a case against the incumbent NAB chairman, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, over his alleged involvement in the NICL scam, triggering confusion among legal experts as to how the bureau could carry out such an order.
The court, while declaring Ayyaz Khan Niazi’s appointment as NICL chairman “non-transparent, illegal and unwarranted”, found Zaman guilty in the matter alongside then commerce minister, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, commerce secretary Suleiman Ghani, establishment secretary Ismail Qureshi and acting principal secretary to the prime minister Nargis Sethi.
Since those involved in Niazi’s appointment are liable to be dealt with under Section 9(a)(vi) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, NAB will have to investigate its own chief.
According to legal experts, this has a direct impact on the governance structure in the country.
“It is incomprehensible how Qamar Zaman can retain his post now after the court’s verdict,” said Justice (retd) Tariq Mahmood. “Will NAB register a case against its chief? Or will he file a case against himself as well?”
Senior lawyer and PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan, meanwhile, urged the court to exercise restraint in the matter. He said there were numerous instances in the past where the court had to rectify weak judgments.
However, senior lawyer Abdul Hafeez Amjad defended the judgment, saying it was necessary to curb the menace of corruption in the country.
The bench, in its final verdict on the NICL case, also found Zaman guilty of creating hurdles in the investigation of the case and framed contempt charges against the NAB chief.
It observed that Zaman, while serving as interior secretary, was involved in the transfer of then Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general (DG) Zafar Ahmed Qureshi, which “hampered the smooth and transparent investigation into the NICL scam”.
Then establishment secretary Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, principal secretary to the prime minister Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, and former FIA DG Malik Muhammad Iqbal were also involved in Qureshi’s transfer.
“On account of the transfer of Zafar Qureshi, an amount of Rs420 million, due against Mohsin Habib Warraich, and others could not be recovered,” the judgment read. “Likewise, another huge amount… having a balance of £1.138 million… deposited by the accused persons in the bank account of Moonis Elahi… had not been recovered.”
The judgment also stated that in the period Qureshi remained dissociated with the NICL investigation, outstanding amounts which had been frozen were ‘illegally activated’.
The bench framed contempt charges against Abdur Rauf Chaudhry over this matter as well. It observed that while Khushnood Lashari had replied to the show cause notice served to him in this regard, he had yet to appear in court. As such proceedings against him were to be ‘kept pending’. All other contempt of court cases, linked to the NICL scam, were to be de-linked and fixed for hearing, the judgment stated.
The court also stated that the FIA had failed to recover the outstanding amount from the main accused so far. It ordered the NAB chairman to take the necessary steps to recover the amount and arrest the main accused as early as possible.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2013.
COMMENTS (9)
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Now that the NAB chief has gone on indefinite leave,who will carry our the orders of the CJ?
One issues an order only if one has the capacity to enforce it........otherwise its useless.
We deserve all this. We deserve to be scammed. We keep elected the same people over and over and over again, somehow expecting them to be different, for the results to be different.
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
@Zif: Do you have any doublts about corruption commited by these people, this country has come to grinding halt due to corruption every where and you seem to support corruption. what a mind set, pity you,
@Zif......you remind me of famous quote "damned if you do and damned if you don't".
Don't know if I should be laughing at this or crying! Is there one clean man in this country? That makes me wonder; is there any politician who's been in the government / power and yet nobody accused him of corruption? Musharraf? The guy who's being tried for high treason? wow!
Someone is getting insane and delusional as he moves closer to his retirement. The same institutions, NAB, and FIA, were not worthy of investigating his son's involvement in extortion, but they are perfect for investigating others.
Simply beats me. The decisions of SC has virtually stalled the administration of the country. It looks like every person in this country is corrupt or inept except CJ himself. CJ is bent upon running the affairs of Pak through his decisions. No doubt Gov. can't wait to see his back.
Despite the fact that Qamar Zaman was involved in NICL, he was appointed chairman NAB, it was like fox guarding the chicken coop. Nawaz Sharif who apparently wanted to eradicate corruption looks the other way when knowing fully well that Qamar Zaman should have been the last person to be appointed to NAB. No wonder Pakistan is in such a dire situation economically and politically. Pakistani governments sustain itself on heavy borrowing either internally or externally and then huge amounts are siphoned off by these crooks who are running the government. There are some honest, decent, upright and competent people in Pakistan who could run NAB and put a dent in this perpetual corruption by the ruling class. I say there should be no leniency with these people if they are proven to be guilty, beside paying off the loot, they must also go to jail like the rest of criminals, no special class should be given to them in jail.