|
|
|
| July 20, 2005 | Wednesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 12, 1426 |
Ministers on NAB’s exit control list
ISLAMABAD, July 19: A recently updated Exit Control List (ECL) maintained on the website of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) contains the names of some persons who are dead in addition to some high profile ministers and politicians who frequently travel in and out of the country. When accessed on Tuesday, the official NAB website showed former federal minister Abdul Sattar Laleka, who died more than a year ago, and alleged terrorist Riaz Basra, declared killed in an encounter with police long ago, on the ECL until July 14.
Despite the government’s announcement that it had taken off Mukhtaran Mai’s name from the ECL last month, the NAB website continued to show her on the same list.
The names of two federal ministers, chief whip of the ruling party and chairman Public Accounts Committee, were also listed on the NAB website.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Kashmir Affairs Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, ruling party chief whip in the National Assembly Nasrullah Dareshak and Public Accounts Committee chairman Malik Allahyar Khan are also among the 4,227 names on the ECL as available on NAB website although all of them are free to travel abroad.
The same ECL also included the names of MQM parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar in addition to several opposition politicians, including former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, her husband Asif Ali Zardari, People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, MNA Naheed Khan, and some members of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s family.
The list also included the name of former NWFP chief minister Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbassi who recently travelled to a number of European countries as a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
Asked how the names of federal interior and Kashmir Affairs minister featured on the ECL, the interior minister said: “Our names are not on the ECL.”
Asked if he would direct the authorities to make corrections in the list, the minister replied in affirmative.
Interior ministry officials contested the powers of NAB to put the names of persons on ECL that they said was a prerogative of their ministry.
Asked how the names of some well known dead persons featured on the website, the interior minister said perhaps the list was old and not updated.
When contacted, a NAB official said the interior minister’s name was put on the website as cases were pending against him in courts.
The official, requesting anonymity, said the interior minister’s name would be taken off only on the directives of a court of law.
Asked why the Kashmir affairs minister’s name was on ECL, the official said perhaps the concerned officials had not updated the list as court cases against the minister had been withdrawn.
About Mukhtaran Mai still featuring on the NAB website, the official said the list was maintained by the interior ministry and the government might have put her name on ECL.
The official said NAB got the names of only those people on ECL who had any corruption cases pending against them.
Asked if the NAB had the legal power to place a person’s name on ECL or publish it on its website, NAB spokesperson Nasir Jamal said there must be some provision but he would have to check the exact position with the legal department on Wednesday.
|
|
|
|
