NAB to probe its former head for corruption, misuse of authority

ISLAMABAD: For the first time since its inception in 1999 the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will probe its own former chairman Admiral (R) Fasih Bukhari for corruption and misuse of authority.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and comprising Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justic Qazi Faez Isa on Friday directed NAB to proceed against Admiral Fasih Bukhari and other NAB officials for misuse of authority under section 18 g of the NAB Ordinance.
The judgment is a major blow to the credibility of the anti-corruption watchdog, which is already facing criticism from the apex court for not doing enough to stop corruption in the society and for not proceeding against the influential.
“The material placed before us prima facie indicates that the former chairman NAB, and possibly other officers of NAB as well, misused their official positions and authority,” the apex court declared in its judgment released on Friday. The Supreme Court held that section 9 (a) (i), (iv) and (xii) of NAO stipulate that “if the holder of a public office does any official act or forbears to do any official act that he is supposed to do or misuses his authority or aids, assists, abets, attempts or acts in conspiracy with another with regard thereto he commits the offence of corruption and/or corrupt practices.”
Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Lahore had filed a petition regarding the transfer of the Punjab land encroachment case from ACE to NAB.
The Supreme Court held that Fasih Bukhari got the case transferred to NAB while exonerating the key accused in violation of NAB law.
A senior NAB official confirmed that probe against former chairman and other accused officials will be launched soon.
“Yes definitely we will start investigation as soon as we receive the written orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. It will be the first incident where the Bureau will investigate its own chairman,” a senior official of NAB told The News.
He said the officers mentioned in the apex court orders have already been probed by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of NAB, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and police.
“There is an investigation going on against two former director generals of NAB and a senior police official for misuse of authority in the same case pertaining to illegal transfer of land in village Malikpur Azizal of Rawalpindi,” the senior NAB official said.
He said the JIT constituted by chairman NAB had already recommended further probe against two DGs for making a fake reference against a victim of land mafia and the case is now in the investigation stage.
He said under the law there are three ways for NAB to inittiate a probe into corruption. “Firstly we probe a case on the application of individuals, secondly on the application of public bodies and thirdly on the orders of the courts,” he said adding that Friday’s judgment has set a new precedent for the anti-corruption watchdog to probe its own head.