September 6, 2002	Friday	Jamadi-us-Saani27,1423

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QUETTA, Sept 5: National Accountability Bureau Chairman Lt-Gen Munir Hafeiz said on Wednesday that cases of corruption and misuse of power against ex-ministers and politicians have not been withdrawn.

“NAB has not withdrawn cases against any accused, including former ministers and politicians,” he said at a press conference.

He told a questioner that it was up to the courts to grant relief to the accused and some former ministers were granted bail by the judiciary.

Accountability courts had declared some ex-ministers absconders and NAB had no power to grant relief to any accused, he said.

Replying to a question, he said that if former prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif, applied for plea bargaining, the bureau would consider their offer.

He said the accountability process was not selective or discriminatory, nor cases were framed at whims of individuals in NAB or the government.

He said NAB was also investigating cases against retired army officers who served on civil side and around a dozen such cases were under process.

He said the rate of conviction in cases filed by NAB was 85 per cent.

He said NAB was not responsible for delay in prosecution of the accused. He said that in the cases against Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Zardari, the defence took 90 adjournments from the courts.

Asked about the results of the visits by the chairman and others to Britain, Switzerland and other European countries to seek extradition of the accused and return of the plundered money, Lt-Gen Hafeiz conceded that they had returned empty handed.

However, he said, chartered accountants and other experts had been detailed to investigate the assets of the wanted people in those countries. He said certain documents were handed over to Pakistan. He said incidents following Sept 9, 2001, had created goodwill for Pakistan in those countries.

The NAB chairman said the government had recovered $7.5 million from former navy chief, Mansurul Haq, in the submarine case. If there were other cases against Mansurul Haq, the NAB would proceed them, he said. It was true in other cases also, he remarked.

The NAB had recovered around Rs70 billion bad bank loans and Rs2.5 billion from plea bargains, he said.

The chairman clarified that plea bargaining was done in the courts and no individual was authorized to do it outside the courts.

He said the State Bank had referred the cases of Yunus Habib and others and NAB had made the recoveries. He said that after NAB action, ex-senator Saifur Rehman, Yunus Habib and others started paying the bank loans.

He said some of the people accused in the Emirate Bank scandal had been extradited and they were being prosecuted.

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