Govt finds disgruntled NAB elements misfeeding media about amendments

ISLAMABAD: The government has information that some disgruntled elements within the NAB have been propagating against the recent changes made in the NAB law.

A senior Prime Minister’s Office source confided to The News here on Monday that some officials of NAB have been feeding the media with distorted and wrong information during the last few days to scandalise the changes made in the law.

“They were giving the impression as if all the powers of the NAB have beenwithdrawn,” the PM Office source said, explaining that in actual only a few changes were made primarily to exclude the business community from the purview of NAB besides saving the public office holders, both politicians and bureaucrats, from unnecessary harassment.

Without even going through the amendments made through the ordinance, the source said false impressions have been propagated as if all major cases of corruption against leading politicians and bureaucrats would stand quashed following the recent changes in NAB law. Some NAB officials, it is said, had run a negative campaign against the amendments through their contacts in the media.

Spokesman for the NAB when contacted said that the Bureau’s official position on the matter is: “NAB has not received amended NAB ordinance officially. As soon as the amended NAB Ordinance is received officially, we will review it and implement it after completion of all codal formalities as per law.”

Although the spokesman did not respond to the question about those NAB officials who are allegedly involved in propaganda against changes in the NAB law, sources within the Bureau even admit that some of its senior officials have been involved in misfeeding the media with wrong information about the impact of the amended law.

Different television channels ran stories while quoting NAB sources and suggested that NAB cases against Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Fawad Hasan Fawad, Ahad Cheema and others would stand quashed.

The sources said that in actual only those cases would be affected by these amendments which either pertain to private businesses or involve public office holders (bureaucrats and politician) who are alleged of “misuse of authority” or “procedural lapse” without any evidence of corruption involved.

It is said that most of the NAB cases against politicians and bureaucrats would not be affected by these amendments but deliberately disinformation is being spread to fail the amendments. The government sources say that the amendment has been primarily made to win back the confidence of business community, and protect honest public office holders from being unnecessarily harassed by the NAB.

According to a cabinet source, ever since the coming into power of the PTI government, there has been a consistent demand from business community and the civil bureaucracy that they should be saved from the harassment of NAB.

Politicians and mediapersons, it is said, have also been pressing that without protecting the businessmen and bureaucracy from undue harassment of the NAB neither the businesses would grow nor the bureaucracy would work. But after the government made the required amendments, a campaign has been started as if the entire accountability process is being wound up, lamented the cabinet member.