KP NAB: No progress on mega scams for over 1.5 years

By Arshad Aziz Malik
September 19, 2019

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is losing credibility by poor performance in mega cases as its visibility has been questioned in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by higher judiciary and opposition parties.

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Growing perception of unfair accountability has raised serious reservations. Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC) Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth has also questioned the role of NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and observed that it seems there is no NAB in the province nowadays, while opposition parties have termed the NAB a toothless body in KP.

It is pertinent that recently the Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa has also shown serious reservation on growing perception of political engineered accountability in Pakistan.

The NAB KP has shown disappointing performance in the mega scams including misuse of KP government Helicopter, Billion Tree Tsunami, Ehtesab Commission, Bank of Khyber (BoK), BRT and other mega scams. Media has reported that former Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, now defense minister (Pervaiz Khattak) and Principle Secretary to Prime Minister Azam Khan have been given a clean chit in the Malam Jaba Scam, but the NAB spokesman rejected these reports and stated that the NAB is examining the case of Malam Jaba and not yet discussed in the Executive Board meeting. EBM will take the final decision accordingly. However, the NAB KP sources claimed that few mega corruption cases are pending with headquarters and soon will be decided.

The NAB has replaced two DGs and posted third over the past eight months. Former DG NAB KP Farmanullah was transferred on February 28 and Mujahid Akhbar Baluch replaced him on March 5, 2019.

Later, Mujahid Akhbar Baluch was transferred on June 18 and Syed Fayyaz Qureshi was brought in. The NAB has replaced two DGs and posted third one in short span of time but the bureau has not shown any tangible development in the mega cases. Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC) Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth has also questioned the role of National Accountability Bureau Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during hearing of a case and observed that it seems there is no NAB in the province nowadays. “It seems that KP province is without NAB now,” he observed. The chief justice observed that a few years ago, the NAB KP was much active and visible against corruption and corrupt elements, but unfortunately now NAB is not seen in KP. The NAB is active in Punjab only, he added.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa has also conveyed similar message regarding NAB while addressing annual conference and said the growing perception that the ongoing process of accountability was lopsided and politically engineered was dangerous and urgent steps were needed to ensure that the anti-graft campaign did not lose its credibility.

“The recovery of stolen wealth of the citizenry is a noble cause but if in the process the recognized standards of fairness and impartiality are compromised then the retrieval of the lost constitutional and legal morality may pose an even bigger challenge,” he added.

Chairman NAB visited Peshawar office on Tuesday and once again vowed to take mega corruption cases to a logical conclusion. He dismissed the perception of non-visibility of NAB in KP and said NAB is working in KP accordingly.

While reviewing the performance of KP office, he said that anti-graft body was making sincere and strenuous efforts for the eradication of corruption from the country and returning the stolen money.

The chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal had issued instructions to probe mega scams on public complaints, but the NAB KP chapter has not been able to complete investigation of mega scams during more than a year and half despite the fact that chairman NAB has issued directives to complete all cases within stipulated time of 10 months.

According to documents, Malam Jabba scam had come on surface on January 7, 2018. The Chairman NAB has declared it classic example of misuse of authority and abuse of power and ordered an inquiry to be completed accordingly.

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