The NAB law mandates the bureau to proceed against those involved in illegal appointments but in this case there is no one to probe the state’s top anti-corruption apparatus for the alleged crime it is itself committing so blatantly. Here the question arises if the NAB can proceed against its own chairman for the alleged illegal appointments.

The sources alleged that scores of persons, said to be around 154, had been appointed by the chairman NAB during his tenure on pick and choose basis in violation of the NAB’s own SOP. Such appointees include a number of retired army officers, who were also recruited on contract but without any knowledge and permission of the GHQ.

Adding insult to the injury, the NAB sources claimed that the same set of controversial appointees had been tasked to recruit persons on a regular basis. When contacted, NAB spokesman Zafar Iqbal, however, denied that any violation had been committed in the appointment of contract appointees by the incumbent chairman.

The spokesman said that the NAB law allowed the chairman to make such appointments on contract basis. He said that on lump sum contract basis, experts, advisers, etc, could be appointed by the NAB chairman whereas for regular appointments the bureau had already initiated a recruitment process to fill in more than 400 posts.

The spokesman said that when chairman Bokhari took over, the bureau was working with merely 28 percent of its sanctioned strength. In order to make the NAB work and deliver, the spokesman explained, the NAB chairman had to make immediate appointments on contract basis. The spokesman denied that for the appointment of ex-servicemen, the NAB chairman was required to get any clearance from the GHQ.

As against the spokesman’s contention, the NAB sources said that section 28(f) of the NAB Ordinance permitted the chairman to appoint advisers, consultants and experts but the SOP of recruitment issued on May 30, 2007 by the NAB set certain conditions for making such appointments.

These conditions include the determination of requirement for the appointment of advisers/consultants by the regional NABs and concerned divisions, advertisement of vacancies and short listing of candidates by an in-house committee; interview/test by a selection board; security clearance of appointees, etc.

These SOPs, the sources said, had not been followed and the appointments were mostly made purely on pick and choose basis by the NAB chairman. It is said that the controversial appointees are presently holding key HR, intelligence, chairman’s secretariat and advisers’ positions.

While for the NAB spokesman it is an “all is well” situation, a number of NAB officials are reported to have also approached the court of law against these controversial appointments besides questioning the recruitment process adopted for the fresh appointment of over 400 regular employees.

According to the sources, those appointed on contract by the NAB chairman without following the bureau’s own SOP or bothering to get an NoC from the GHQ include Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, adviser (who recently resigned); Brig (retd) Hadeed Anwer Malik, consultant; Col (retd) Ghazanfar Ali Chaudhry, expert intelligence; Maj (retd) Hassan Mehmood, expert; Maj (retd) Qadir Khan, expert intelligence; Muhammad Zaheer Shakeel; Madeeha Irum, expert; Zamurrad Khan, LRE; Syed Mubashir Ali, system analyst; Rizwan Ahmad, system administrator; Nazir Ahmad Nadeem, expert (administration); Dr Zafar Altaf, expert food and agriculture; Shah Mehboob Alam, expert; Haroon Qazi, member (FCIW); Ameerul Haq, expert regulations and HR; Brig (retd) Shaukat Qadir, expert; Lt Col (retd) Aizaz Khalid Qureshi, expert; Col (retd) Zamir Hussain Bhatti, expert; Lt Col (retd) Ikram Ullah, investigation officer; Muhamamd Irfan, consultant media; Syed Sakhawal Ali Shah Gilani, expert; Bilal Hasan, media consultant; Muhammad Hussain, LRE; Salahuddin, consultant audit and accounts; Lt Col (retd) Muhammad Aamer, expert; Hussain Islam, adviser to chairman; Qudsia Qadri, expert; Abdul Hadi, expert investigation; Col (retd) Merajul Islam, senior investigation officer; Brig (retd) Nawaz, senior member financial crime wing; Abu Bakar Bhatti, expert investigation; Abdul Raheem Shoro, expert investigation; Attaur Rehman, expert; Abbas Soomro, expert; Shahnawaz Khan Rajpar, expert; Shahzad Bashir Memon, expert investigation; Ahmed Safdar, expert media; Muhammad Qasim Azmi, expert media; Sub Major (retd) Ghulam Mustafa Baloch, expert intelligence; Ghulam Abbas, expert; Lt Col (retd) Muhammad Mehdi Gulzar, investigation officer; Wajid Ali Khan, intelligence officer; Muhammad Sharif, archiving supervisor; Lt Col (retd) Hussain Ahmad; Inayatullah Khan, expert; Lt Col (retd) Pervez Ahmad Khan; Junaid Nawaz, archiving assistant; Muhammad Afzal, consultant intelligence; Lt Col (retd) Muhammad Niaz, expert investigation; Mamosh Ghazanfar, expert; Muhammad Shafi, expert land revenue; Abdul Rehman, banking financial expert, Maj (R) Mussadiq Khurshid Syed, expert; and Col (R) Shahid Qamar Yazdani.

In addition to the above category of lump sum contract appointees, the NAB chairman also appointed during 2011-2012 the following lawyers as different categories of prosecutors: Mazhar Ali Chaudhry, Nadeem Hasan, Shumiya Aziz, Naheed Seemi; Mahmud Raza Khan, Muhammad Shoaib Khan, Omer Farouk Adam, Muhammad Akram Javed, Syed Amjad Ali Shah, Muhammad Riaz, Muhammad Shaiq Usmani, Aziz ur Rehman Shaikh, Hakim Ali Sheikh, Asmat Ullah Khan Niazi, Khuda Bukhsh Leghari, Muhammad Saeed Abbasi, Muhammad Afzal Jami, Riaz Mansoor Shah, Syed Abu Zar Haider, Rashid Zeb Khan Golra, Muhammad Fand Dogar, Muhammad Bashir Kayani, Saeed ur Rehman, Ch Riaz Ahmed, Ghulam Abbas Shaikh, Yousaf Jamal Shah, Sohail Arif, Khuram Ejaz, Tahir Ayub Khan, Yasir Barkat, Muhammad Abbas Khan, Muhammad Jamil Khan, Muhammad Tariq Javed, Shoukat Ali Yousafzai and Omer Farooq.

Lump sum contract staff (in lower scales) appointed in the NAB by the incumbent chairman during his tenure include Hav (R) Nazir Ahmed Nadeem, expert; N/Sub Clerk (R) Muhammad Iltaf, assistant clerk; Zeeshan Ahmed Abbasi, clerk; Sub (R) Abdul Rasool, junior investigation officer (JIO); N/Sub (R) Muhammad Ashraf, JIO; Sub (R) Fazal Haq, asstt security supervisor; Ali Ahmer, expert data entry (EDE), Sohaib Quddus, EDE; Abdul Basir, EDE; Muhammad Amir, EDE; Muhammad Amjad, EDE; Asadur Rehman, EDE; Momin Khan, EDE; Atif Khair, EDE; Hafiz Mudassir Shabbir, EDE; Muhammad Arif, EDE; Adil Riaz Malik, EDE; Asmat Khalid, EDE; Shazia Hanif, EDE; Rabia Shahid, EDE; Muhammad Yousaf, EDE; Sultan Ahmad Shams, EDE; Sub Maj (R) Muhammad Siddique, JIO; Inspector (R) Malik Saadat Aziz, JIO; Sub Maj (R) Ghulam Mustafa Baloch, JIO; Muhammad Sharif, archiving supervisor; Muhammad Afzal, consultant intelligences and others.