Ministry of Law formulates draft for extending NAB chairman's tenure

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Law has formulated a draft for extending the tenure of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal under the Presidential Ordinance, sources privy to the matter said Thursday.

Sources said that the ministry will send the draft to President Arif Alvi after Prime Minister Imran Khan consents to it.

They further stated that despite the fact that the tenure of a NAB chairman cannot be extended under Section 6 (b) of the NAB Ordinance 1999, the authorities have decided that Iqbal will serve as the NAB chairman until a new chairman is not appointed.

Earlier, Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem had rejected media reports and clarified that his ministry had not drafted an ordinance to extend the tenure of Justice (retd) Iqbal as the NAB chief.

He had said that it was the prime minister’s prerogative to pick a person for the post of the head of the anti-corruption watchdog and that he could only give his advice on the issue.

Naseem said the prime minister will consider more than one name for the post and "will pick whoever he deems fit for the slot."

Moreover, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry had said that the government will not be consulting Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif over the appointment of the NAB’s next chairman.

He termed consulting with Shahbaz over the matter akin to asking a suspect who their interrogating officer should be.