Detailed judgment

Court says NAB should not have probed case against own employee

By Akhtar Amin

PESHAWAR: The accountability court expressed concern over inquiry and investigation of the National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, against own employee instead of referring the case to another investigation agency for impartiality and transparency.

In the 24 page-detailed judgment, the accountability court judge Hafiz Naseem Akber ruled that it would have been more appropriate for the NAB KP to investigate the case against own employee, Sardar Gul Khitab, through another investigation agency to display impartiality and transparency if there was a criminal case against him.

However, with these observations the accountability court acquitted the former employee of the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He had been arrested by the bureau on charges of receiving bribe from a suspect in a case.

In the judgment, the court directed the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa DG to take notice of the missing documentary materials highlighted in the judgment.

“The DG NAB may also note that the prosecutor, despite his able assistance and legal acumen, could not pump life into the case marred by bad investigation,” the court noted in the judgment.

The court also pointed out in the decision that a number of documents exhibited during the trial have been found without signatures of the presiding officer at the relevant time.

However, the judge ruled that the accused Gul Khitab was held to be entitled for benefit of doubt and acquitted of the charges levelled against him.

The accused was arrested by the NAB on May 1, 2015. The NAB had alleged that he had received a bribe of Rs200,000 from a municipal officer, Mehboob Ali, in Abbottabad by impersonating himself as Assistant Director (Investigation) Umair Butt.

While the accused was in the NAB custody, a controversy had emerged about his torture by investigation officer Umair Butt. His examination at the Police Services Hospital revealed that he had bruises on buttocks, legs, shoulder and arms.

Sardar Ali Raza, lawyer for the accused, said his client had been implicated in a concocted case.

He said his client had just advised a suspect in a case not to make plea bargain agreement with the bureau. The lawyer said the NAB officials were annoyed at his client over that advice and implicated him in the case.

He said the allegations of his client receiving Rs200,000 from a suspect were unfounded.

The lawyer said the accused was an office assistant and a simple person, which was evident from his appearance.

In November 2016, a local court had acquitted the NAB KP’s director general, Shehzad Saleem, and investigation officer Umair Butt, who were accused of torturing Sardar Gul Khitab in custody.

The FIR was that case was registered on the orders of the Peshawar High Court on May 16, 2016, under sections 337-K, 337-A (1), 506 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Hayatabad police station. The high court had accepted a petition filed by Saiqa Gul Khitab, daughter of Gul Khitab.