Controversial NAB Remains Under Fire

National Accountability Bureau (NAB), like always, has been under fire during the reign of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as the opposition has accused the anti-graft watchdog of siding with the government.

Meanwhile, the NAB has also lampooned fire by the Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla who accused it of interfering in the personal businesses.

He asserted that like politicians, NAB officials should be held accountable too. Manduviwalla told that NAB’s chairman has been summoned by the senate standing committee on law and justice and January 9.

NAB chairman and controversy

However, the construction of NAB is controversial as its incumbent chairman was chosen by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N).

Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal was appointed as the NAB chairman on October 8, 2017.

Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal had previously served as judge of Balochistan High Court (BHC) and was then promoted to Supreme Court (SC).

He was appointed as the head of top-notch probing commissions including the Abbotabad commission and commission of inquiry on enforced disappearances.

He has also remained in hot waters as a woman named Tayabba Farooqi accused the NAB chairman of harassment.

She had released a video of the activity as well but the forensic test of it has not been conducted so far.

NAB lampooned

The performance of NAB has always remained questionable and in multiple cases, the SC also criticized the accountability watchdog’s performance and observed that it abused its powers.

SC judge Justice Umar Ata Bandial had remarked in a case that there was an abundance of corruption cases pending for two decades and that the delay in corruption probes begin from NAB’s office.

NAB’s performance in 2020

During 2020, NAB filed 90 new references including those against prominent political figures such as Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, and Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is in NAB’s custody while the arrest warrants for ex-President Asif Ali Zardari have been issued in a case pertaining to dubious transactions of Rs 8 billion.

In the outgone year, the accountability watchdog approved 256 inquiries and 90 investigations.

It also converted 81 investigations into proper inquiries.

Last year, NAB closed 187 inquiries and acquitted 47 suspects including former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

NAB and PTI

Currently, NAB is investigating Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Bazdar, Aleem Adil Sheikh, and incumbent and sacked federal ministers including Noorul Haq Qadri, Ghulam Sarwar, Zafar Mirza, Amir Mahmood Kayani as well as other PTI leaders.

However, no significant progress has been made in any of the cases against the ruling party’s leaders.

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The performance of NAB has also been questioned as it did not open an inquiry into alleged irregularities in Peshawar BRT and the recent sugar scandal.

The corruption watchdog gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Imran Khan in the helicopter case.

NAB and Opposition

NAB has been the target of opposition parties and remained under fire and the rift further escalated after Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla received a questionnaire from the bureau.

The arrest of PML-N Leader Khawaja Asif added insult to the injury and disseminated the impression that NAB was being used to thrash opposition.

Senate Opposition Leader Raja Zafar-ul-Haq moved a resolution against NAB in the upper house and said that its politically-inspired actions were going out of control.

He took strong exception that the suspects were detained merely based on allegations before proven guilty.

NAB loses case

On behalf of NAB, Pakistan has paid $28.706 million (Rs4.59 billion) to the British firm Broadsheet LLC.

NAB had hired the services of the firm in 2003 to trace assets of more than 200 Pakistanis in the UK and USA.

However, NAB was found to breach the terms and conditions of the contract with the firm and it had moved against it to the London High Court.

NAB’s silver lining

Prime Minister Imran Khan lauded the anti-graft watchdog for recovering Rs 389 billion during 2019 and 2020.

PM claimed that the recoveries during PTI’s two years were more than the collective recoveries done by NAB between 2008 and 2018.