The level of political influence in NAB has remained different during different eras
NAB has been criticised for employing serving and retired army personnel who, according to the critics, are not wholly aware of the civil administration processes and cannot themselves be tried by the NAB law. The financial corruption in the armed forces is dealt under the Army Act of 1958.
Irfanullah, spokesman NAB Punjab, dispels this impression and clarifies that the serving army officers were appointed in NAB at the time of its formation. "This was the time when the systems had to be established and experts with investigative skills were badly needed. But over the passage of time the officials belonging to the armed forces retired and left the organisation or changed their cadre and immersed into NAB service," he says.
"At the moment, there is a separate cadre of service at NAB and people join it after going through a proper recruitment process. There is no special quota for serving or retired army personnel," he adds.
"NAB is an autonomous body and its director generals are answerable to the chairman who can give briefing to the prime minister, etc. His appointment is made with the mutual consent of the ruling party/alliance and the opposition and the process of his removal is like just that of the removal of a Supreme Court judge," Irfanullah explains.
A former NAB official, who joined the bureau during General Musharraf’s era, says the level of political influence in NAB has remained different during different eras. For example, he says, "during the PPP rule the controversies reached alarming levels and chairmen were removed one after the other by the ruling party."
The official also agrees that NAB was used as a tool in Musharraf’s era to make the politicians gather under the umbrella of newly formed PML-Q but contests the impression that it did not achieve the desired results. "Huge amounts of money were recovered from the accused that included politicians, government officers and even businessmen who had willfully defaulted on bank loans extended to them," he says.
He says ideally NAB should be independent and 100 per cent free from political influence but this has not been the case in the past. "But with the NAB investigation launched against Lt Colonel (retd) Tariq Kamal, a former official of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), for his alleged irregularities related to DHA Valley contracts and his request to the bureau to investigate Gen. (retd) Ashfaq Pervez Kayani under the same case, this perception has changed. The impression now is that an organisation that can try or even talk openly about trying the retired and powerful army officials can proceed against anybody," he adds.
The official suggests that appointing the NAB chairman with the consent of the leader of the House and the leader of the Opposition is not enough as they can join hands to protect corruption and agree on a common friend. "Approval from the Supreme Court should also be a condition," he concludes.
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In this context, some analysts believe that the armed forces got directly involved in the accountability process when Karachi’s gang war leaders were arrested from Ziauddin Hospital owned by Dr Asim Husain and a person was taken in custody from Karachi airport for allegedly laundering money for an exiled political leader. It is alleged that a link was established between the corruption money and financial support of terrorists/gang war leaders, something that directly falls under the preview of National Action Plan (NAP) and, hence, the armed forces. The apex committees formed under NAB already have representation from the armed forces and politicians.
Ejaz Choudhry, former president PTI, Punjab, says he strongly supports an independent NAB and hopes it gains credibility enjoyed by the Supreme Court. "If this happens, nobody will be able to exert undue pressure on it." He condemns the idea of issuing warning signals to the NAB authorities and asking them to stay within their limits.
To a question why did his own party clip the powers of the provincial Ehetesab Commissioner, Chaudhry replies that in his personal opinion it was wrong on the part of the KP government to clip these powers through amendments in the related law.
At the party level, he says, "Chairman Imran Khan has formed a review committee to look into the said amendments and decide their fate. The PTI chairman’s meeting with those who proposed these amendments has taken place and the one with the other camp is due shortly," he says.