Getting NBWs without providing case copies to accused is harassment, NAB told

An accountability court on Friday issued show cause notice to the National Accountability Bureau's investigation officer over his failure to provide copies of the prosecution documents to former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and three others in a reference pertaining to illegal appointments in the Pakistan State Oil.

The NAB, in the previous month, had filed a reference against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Abbasi, former petroleum secretary Arshad Mirza, Pakistan State Oil’s (PSO) former managing director Sheikh Imranul Haq and deputy managing director/chief financial officer Yacoob Suttar for allegedly causing a loss of Rs138.96 million to the national exchequer.

The anti-graft watchdog said that Abbasi, when serving as the minister for petroleum and natural resources, in connivance with Mirza misused his authority while appointing Sheikh as the MD and Suttar as the DMD of the PSO in violation of the rules and regulations. It said the inquiry into this case was conducted on the Supreme Court's order of July 14, 2018.

The probe found that Haq had a conflict of interest with the PSO due to a liquified natural gas import agreement with his previous employer, the Engro Corporation, which he served as the senior vice president. According to NAB, he also promoted Suttar to the post of the DMD out of the way and within a month of his joining.

The accountability court-III on the previous hearing had issued non-bailable warrants of arrest against Abbasi and Mirza. In the compliance, they moved an application in the court through their counsel Barrister Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, contending that they were based in Islamabad and could not travel to the court in Karachi due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The judge accepted the plea.

Meanwhile, the defence counsel submitted that his clients were not provided with the copies of the reference under Section 265-C of the Code of Criminal Procedure despite the court's orders of March 27 to do so within a week. When the judge inquired the IO as why the copies were not provided to the defence counsel, the IO replied that he could not get the copies due to a shortage of staffers at the bureau because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The judge expressed dissatisfaction over the IO's reply and issued him a show cause notice to explain the reason of delay in writing. The judge also remarked that getting the NBWs issued without having the complete documents was tantamount to harassing the accused. The judge ordered the IO to bring copies of reference on the next hearing on April 15.