ISLAMABAD: Irked over delay by the National Accountability Bureau in finalising an inquiry report on corruption in the National Bank of Pakistan, the National Assem­bly’s Standing Committee on Finance has decided to seek legal opinion before taking action against NAB.

“Not only are you bringing a bad name to this committee but the actions by NAB are tantamount to protecting the corrupt,” Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, the chairman of the standing committee, said.

He even expressed helplessness over delay by the bureau in finalising the inquiry report.

“Why are we not heading anywhere and I do not understand where to take this matter,” Mr Sheikh said, speaking to mid-level officials representing NAB.

“If it would have been a case of Rs2 million by a small businessman, what would you have done?”

The committee unanimously decided to ask the NAB chief to appear in person during the next meeting, to be held on Dec 22. The bureau was also asked to present the inquiry report on that day.

The NAB had sought four months to finalise an investigation into a scam in the bank’s Bangladesh branch. The case relates to the establishment of NBP operations in that country between 2005 and 2010, where bad loans were granted, resulting in accumulation of non-performing loans totaling $185m. The bank has managed to recover around $35m.

COMPANIES BILL: The committee studied the Companies Bill, 2016 and set up a sub-committee, headed by Pervaiz Malik, for further deliberations over the matter. Other members of the sub-committee are Mian Abdul Mannan, Syed Naveed Qamar and Asad Umar.

The committee approved the Cost and Management Accountants (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2016