ISLAMABAD: The inquiry into alleged illegal appointments on senior positions in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has virtually come to a halt after retirement of former secretary of the establishment division Tahir Shahbaz.

The process of scrutiny of NAB officials was stopped several months ago after a scrutiny committee, headed by Mr Shahbaz, submitted an interim report to the Supreme Court on 55 officials, whose appointments was said to be illegal. The apex court had taken suo motu notice of ‘illegal’ appointments of senior officials, including some directors general, in NAB last year.

A source privy to the matter told Dawn that the committee had stopped its work after retirement of Mr Shahbaz as he himself did not know whether or not he should continue to head the body for conducting scrutiny of the remaining 50 officials.

“After his retirement, Mr Shahbaz wrote to NAB whether he should continue work of the committee or not and the bureau referred the matter to the SC bench hearing the case,” the source said.

It has been learnt that neither further hearing of the case has taken place in the Supreme Court nor was the head of the committee given any reply whether he should continue the inquiry or not.

The committee was tasked with checking appointments of over 100 NAB officials, including some directors general, who have decided the fate of hundreds of accused in corruption cases, though they were not eligible to hold their positions.

The initial report presented by NAB before the committee on the status of about 100 officers also revealed their lack of requisite experience in the field of investigation.

According to the report, four directors general also do not meet the criteria for holding the post. They included Husnain Ahmed (presently serving as DG headquarters), Zahir Shah (DG operations), Altaf Bawany (Karachi DG) and retired Brig Farooq Naser Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa DG).

The document said that Husnain Ahmed was inducted into NAB in 2004 in grade 19 and before that he had served as SDO in the communication and works and veterinary departments in Punjab.

He was appointed DG in April 2013 and was given grade 21. The official has also been accused of concealing facts about his withdrawal from the Pakistan Army on disciplinary grounds.

DG operations Zahir Shah was inducted in the bureau in 2004 in grade 19 when he was working as a teacher in a government college in KP. He was promoted to the post of DG in April 2013 and given grade 21.

Karachi DG Altaf Bawany joined the bureau in 2004 in grade 19 and was promoted to the post of DG in April 2013. He was serving in the Board of Investment before his induction into NAB.

KP DG retired Brig Naser Awan was inducted in NAB in 2012 in grade 20 from the engineering branch of the army. He was promoted to the rank of DG in April 2013 and given grade 21.

According to NAB Employees Terms and Conditions of Services-2002, 12-year post-qualification experience in the fields of investigation, inquiries, research, legal matters, training evaluation, prevention and awareness, media and financial crimes investigation is a must for officials to become DG.

Under a judgement of the Supreme Court issued on March 31 this year, some top officials of NAB were sent home for not having “requisite experience”.

Taking notice of lack of requisite experience, the Supreme Court had ordered removal of some officials. The verdict said: “As regards the officers namely Maj (retired) Syed Burhan Ali, Maj (retired) Tariq Muhammad, Maj (retired) Shabbir Ahmed and Ms Aliya Rasheed, they were not qualified to hold the respective posts in NAB.”

The appointment of incumbent Rawalpindi DG Nasir Iqbal is also in question. He was made DG after removal of four directors general in the light of the apex court’s judgement for not having ‘requisite experience’.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2017