ISLAMABAD: Lack of cooperation by certain institutions in sharing information in the probe of the multi-billion National Logistic Cell (NLC) scam was termed by the Supreme Court on Wednesday as a weakness of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“Certain institutions are exempted from scrutiny under the law but the NLC is not among them and if it does not respond to the queries of the NAB, then the bureau should cease its accounts,” observed Justice Dost Mohammad Khan – a member of the two-judge Supreme Court bench which has taken up the case.

Know more: SC given list of 150 scams

The observation came against the backdrop of a complaint made by NAB in its latest report of 29 new mega scandals worth Rs568 billion, that despite repeated reminders to the NLC and the GHQ since Jan 2012, no reply or record was ever received by the bureau.

NAB complains NLC and GHQ not sharing information for probe

The fresh report on mega scandals was submitted by NAB on Tuesday, in which the military-run NLC scam worth Rs4 billion was also mentioned.

The case was initiated on the complaint of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly against NLC’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Saeedur Rehman for unauthorised investment in the Stock Exchange. Other accused in the scam were retired Lt-Gen Khalid Munir, retired Lt-Gen Muhammad Afzal Muzaffar and Najeebullah Khan. NAB has suggested October 30, 2015 as the date for completion of the inquiry.

When Additional Prosecutor General (APG) NAB Akbar Tarar told the court that former Prosecutor General K.K. Agha visited the GHQ regarding the NLC case, but he was told that since the accused in the matter was retired, no cooperation could be extended.

Justice Dost Mohammad Khan observed that if the prosecutor general had to meet a colonel or major of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Branch – a legal wing of the military, then it reflects NAB’s weakness.

Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, who headed the bench, also lamented that NAB should carry out its investigations in an indiscriminate manner.

The court also expressed surprise when Additional Attorney General Amir Rehman said that NAB was an independent body and not duty bound to report to the government on their working.

The court said that the bureau was established under a law and its chairman was appointed by the president after a consensus between the prime minister of the day and the leader of the opposition.

After the appointment of the NAB chairman, the government should not shrug off its duties of overseeing the functioning of the bureaucracy, the court observed.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play