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Thursday March 28, 2024

Major shift in NAB’s policy towards bureaucracy

According to the secretary, who attended the meeting with Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, the NAB chairman had assured them that instead of summoning the federal secretaries and additional secretaries, the Bureau’s official will visit them for answers of questions concerning any matter under NAB’s probe.

By Ansar Abbasi
February 06, 2019

ISLAMABAD: The government claims that there is an important shift in NAB’s policy towards bureaucracy in order to allow the civil service to work without any fear of being harassed and hounded by the Bureau. The NAB, however, denies that there is any shift in its policy and reiterates that the anti-corruption body will continue its work as per the law.

A key federal minister and a federal secretary, who were contacted separately, told The News here on Tuesday that NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal during his recent interaction with the federal secretaries had assured that in future NAB would not summon federal secretaries and additional secretaries for routine inquiries and investigations. According to the secretary, who attended the meeting with Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, the NAB chairman had assured them that instead of summoning the federal secretaries and additional secretaries, the Bureau’s official will visit them for answers of questions concerning any matter under NAB’s probe. The secretary said the NAB chairman also told the secretaries that he would personally vet the questionnaire to be sent to the senior-most members of the bureaucracy, who had complained that generally the questions asked by NAB are presumption-based, instead of members of the bureaucracy, who had complained that generally the questions asked by NAB are presumption based instead of having been backed by some evidence regarding alleged corruption.

An important federal minister, when contacted, disclosed that the NAB chairman had met the federal secretaries following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initiative. The minister said that the prime minister was approached by the federal bureaucracy with the complaint that the NAB actions against the bureaucrats have caused extreme fear and harassment among the civil servants, who as a consequence have become inactive and avoid taking decisions.

The minister said that the Prime Minister conveyed the civil servants’ concerns to the NAB chairman with the request to allay bureaucracy’s fears. The minister said that similar complaints have been received by the prime minister from Punjab bureaucracy. “This has also been conveyed to the NAB chairman with the request to speak to the Punjab’s bureaucracy,” the minister said.

The NAB spokesman, however, when contacted, denied that the NAB chairman had met the federal secretaries following any request or direction from the prime minister. “It was his own initiative,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman also denied that the chairman gave any assurance to federal secretaries and additional secretaries that they would not be summoned by the NAB in relation of any inquiry and investigation.

The NAB spokesman said that the chairman had urged the bureaucracy to work under the purview of the Constitution, rules and regulations and assured them that “NAB would not call any bureaucrat who works by the book and a transparent system must be devised so that the bureau could not interfere”.

Referring to the press release issued by the NAB following chairman’s meeting with the federal secretaries, the spokesman quoted Javed Iqbal as saying, “It is a propaganda that the bureaucracy has stopped working due to fear of NAB whereas cases against the bureaucracy are very few as compared to others.”

The NAB chairman had also said that his organisation believed in resolving issues of everyone in accordance with the law and the Constitution without hurting his or her self-esteem. He claimed that NAB was a people-friendly institution and its working could be improved further in cooperation with the bureaucracy.

Justice Iqbal had said that he had decided to supervise himself complaints against any secretary or additional secretary and retired bureaucrats, adding that a questionnaire would be sent to the officials if needed.

Meanwhile, an official source confided to The News that not only the prime minister is himself uncomfortable with the NAB’s working that harass and haunt the bureaucrats, a head of an important institution also told the prime minister to rein in the NAB in order to allow the bureaucracy to work without unnecessary fear.