NAB springs into action against Punjab, Sindh politicians

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday sprang into action against politicians from Punjab and Sindh and aslo bureaucrats while opening cases against them on charges of corruption and corrupt practices.
The NAB opened cases against sitting lawmaker of the PML-N Syed Iftikharul Hassan, senior leader of the PML-Q Chaudhry Zaheerudin, senior PPP leader and ex-minister Syed Ali Nawaz Shah, who is currently in jail following the sentence from the accountability court, and ex-provincial minister of Sindh Gyan Chand on charges of corruption.
On the other hand, the NAB Punjab Director General Major (retd) Syed Burhan Ali has said an inquiry against Punjab Minister for Education, Culture and Youth Affairs Rana Mashhood was under process for his alleged role in collecting money from Asim Malik, the owner of a visa consultancy firm, as shown in a video.
The decision of opening the cases against the politicians was taken in a meeting of the executive board of the NAB with its Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry in the chair.
The executive board also launched investigations against the ex-auditor general of Pakistan Buland Akhtar Rana for corruption, corrupt practices and misuse of authority.
According to the NAB sources, the investigations were launched on the basis of the judgment of the Supreme Judicial Council which found him guilty of misuse of his authority and subsequently he was shown the door from the constitutional post of the Auditor General of Pakistan.
At the same time, the NAB has dropped the inquiries against Rana Muhammad Ishaq, MNA, Kasur, officials of TMA Pattoki, Kasur and others, Muhammad Zaka Ashraf, ex-president ZTBL/ex-president Pakistan Cricket Board, and no further action against Arif Hameed, ex-MD SNGPL, will be taken due to lack of incriminating evidence.
The first complaint verification was authorised against Syed Iftikharul Hassan, MNA, PML-N, Sarfraz Shah and others. In this case, the accused persons were alleged of misuse of authority and gaining illegal pecuniary benefits.
The second complaint’s verification was authorised against Syed Ali Nawaz Shah, ex-minister agriculture, Sindh, and Agha Zafrullah Durrani, DG (AE&WM), and in this case, the accused persons were alleged of misuse of authority and giving illegal orders to officials of Sindh On-farm Water Management (SOFWM).
The third complaint verification was authorised against Zaheeruddin, ex-provincial minister, Punjab, and Akhtar Ali, ex-town nazim, Faisalabad. In this case, the accused persons were alleged of misuse of authority by way of acquiring the government land illegally in Faisalabad through manipulation in revenue record and illegal construction and obtaining of pecuniary advantage through dishonest and illegal means.
The fourth inquiry was authorised against Gayan Chand, former minister forest and wildlife, Waseem Ahmed Ursani, ex-secretary, forests, and Riaz Ahmed Wagan, ex-chief conservator of forests, Government of Sindh. In this case, the accused persons were alleged of misappropriation in the budget of Rs150 million of Forest & Wildlife Department, Government of Sindh.
An inquiry was also authorised against Dr Zafar Iqbal, ex-vice chancellor, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST).
In this case, the accused person is alleged of financial misappropriation, mismanagement and mal-practices in the affairs of FUUAST.
Another inquiry was authorised against Dr Jospeh Wilson, ex-acting chairman Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) who is alleged of corruption/corrupt practices and misuse of authority by causing a loss of approximately Rs10.22 million to the national exchequer.
The NAB decided to file a reference against Matloob Ahmed Khan, ex-chairman HRECHS, Naveed Zarar Khan, ex-managing director, Sindh Cooperative Society, Abdul Sattar Laghari, ex-administrator HRECHS, Ghulam Muhammad Kaim Khani, DG HDA, Muhammad Iqbal Memon, Director HDA and Shahid Pervaiz Memon, Dy Director, HDA. In this case, the accused persons were alleged of corruption and corrupt practices causing a loss of Rs1.84 billion to the national exchequer.
The executive board of the NAB launched an inquiry authorised against officers/officials of Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Industries. In this case, the accused persons of commerce and industries ministries were alleged of causing a loss of Rs2.1 billion to the national exchequer.
In another inquiry against the officers of CDA and management of Multi Professional Coop Housing Society, the EBM decided to refer the case to the CDA with the direction to report final settlement regarding claims of Multi Professional Coop Housing Society in the light of the judgment of Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The executive board meeting (EBM) also decided to authorise two investigations. First investigation was authorised against Abid Javed Akbar, ex-chairman NICL, Muhammad Zahoor, GM (F&A) NICL, Ejaz A Khan, Executive Director (CS) NICL, Shahab Siddiqui, Manager (Investment Policy) NICL and Rafique Dawood, Chairman First Dawood Investment Bank Limited (FDIBL).
In this case, the accused persons were alleged of misuse of authority by making irregular investment of Rs100 million in the FDIBL.
The second investigation was authorised against officers/officials of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), Disco chief executive/directors of distribution transformers manufacturers and others. In this case, the accused persons were alleged of causing a loss to the national exchequer in connivance with transformer manufacturing industry based on allegedly fake data/figures and thereby extended undue benefit to the transformer manufacturers at the cost of state exchequer.
The executive board also decided to re-authorise the inquiry against M/s GLOBACO (now Orange Holdings Pvt Ltd) and authorities of DHA and M/S LANDCO (Pvt) Ltd, subsidiary of DHA. In this case, the accused persons were alleged of cheating the public at large and criminal breach of trust, thus causing a loss of over Rs3.632 billion.
The executive board of the NAB also approved plea bargain requests of Farooq Jehangir, Mian Pervaiz Mehmood and Mian Zulifqar under Section 25(B) of NAO, 1999 in investigation against Rana Muhammad Azam Tikka, Hammad Khan Tikka, Sheikh Muhammad Ayub and others in a case of illegal transfer of Qaser-e-Zauk at Lahore and Lt Gen (retd) Zahid Ali Akbar, ex-chairman, Wapda.
Meanwhile, the DG NAB Punjab Major (retd) Syed Burhan Ali told the media after a cheque distribution ceremony held at the bureau’s Lahore headquarters that a probe against Rana Mashhood was on, on the charge of collecting money from Asim in the name of party funds.
Sources said the Bureau might also initiate another inquiry against Rana Mashhood and others in the affairs of the Punjab Sports Board and Punjab Youth Festival soon if anything was found against the accused in the video scandal.
“We may look into the affairs of the Punjab Youth Festival and Punjab Sports Board if we found anything related to them,” the DG said, clarifying that right now their main focus was on the video scandal.
It was also learnt that the NAB would soon contact the FIA for taking all the material/record related to Rana Mashhood’s video scandal as the minister was claiming that an inquiry conducted by FIA in the same matter had declared him innocent.
It was also learnt that the NAB may seek details of bank accounts of the minister during the ongoing probe to reach any conclusion.
When contacted, a NAB spokesman said they were collecting evidence against Rana Mashhood and would decide whether to summon him or not after scrutinising the records.
During the press talk, the NAB DG, without naming PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, also rejected the claim that the bureau was biased towards his party, saying the NAB had even initiated the probe against the ruling party’s sitting members of National Assembly.