Joint team to probe NAB chief, others

SC directed NAB to take over investigations from FIA and take action against the accused, including its own chief.

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE: In the first of its kind investigations for the country’s top graft watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to constitute a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe its sitting chairman.

NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry was charged with ‘misuse of authority’ and ‘creating hindrance’ in the investigations of the multibillion-rupee National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scandal case by the Supreme Court.

The top court directed NAB to take over investigations from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and take action against the accused, including its own chief.

“The JIT will include NAB’s DG Operations and one officer each from police and Securities And Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP),” said a NAB spokesperson. He added that the bureau has formally received a certified copy of the SC judgment on Monday.

The NAB deputy chairman, Saeed Ahmed Sargana, using powers delegated to him by the chairman, decided to appoint DG Operations Zahir Shah as head of the JIT.

The NAB authorities would write to the police department and the SECP asking for the nomination of the required officers to assist Shah in the investigations.

“The officers would be selected by their respective departments,” said a NAB official. The NAB deputy chief, now acting as chairman, directed the DG Operations to ensure an impartial and speedy probe.

To ensure impartiality in the investigations, Sargana decided that the person selected to oversee the inquiry should have had no opportunity of interaction with the chairman prior to his appointment. Besides, he should have been both experienced and competent, said the spokesperson in a statement.

Besides the NAB chairman, the JIT would also questions the other accused, including Federal Tax Ombudsman Rauf Chaurdhry, former principle secretary to the prime minister Khushnud Lashari, Economic Affairs Division Sitting Secretary Nargis Sethi and other officials. These accused were also charged with misuse of authority and creating hindrances in investigations.

Sources said the investigations and arrests of other accused besides the bureaucrats would be entrusted to the NAB Karachi office as it included charges of financial irregularities and corruption. These accused included former commerce minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim and other businessmen.

The NAB chairman before heading on an indefinite leave delegated his powers to initiate investigations against him and others in line with the SC orders to his deputy. “The chairman went on leave in order to make the investigations against him impartial and fair,” said another NAB official.

The JIT would find out if the charges against Chaudhry and other government officials were substantiated with evidence. None of them would be arrested initially. “The need to arrest a suspect arises only when it is feared that he was not cooperating with authorities,” said the official.

Deputy chairman notified

The NAB has notified the appointment of NAB Deputy Chairman Saeed Ahmad Sargana as the acting chairman of the accountability watchdog in the absence Chaudhry.

The notification was issued according to Section 6 (C) Of National Accountability Ordinance 1999, which says: “As and when the chairman NAB is absent or unable to perform the function of his office due to any reason… the deputy chairman NAB will act as the chairman NAB.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2013.