ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over performance of the bureau’s regional headquarters Rawalpindi and urged the officials to take care of respect and dignity of accused in high profile cases.

“NAB officers are dealing with high profile white collar cases and each accused should be dealt with self-respect and should be given full opportunity of hearing regarding allegations leveled against him/her,” the chairman said during a visit to the NAB Rawalpindi.

Chairing a meeting of the regional bureau, he said NAB was committed to eradicating corruption and recovering looted money from corrupt elements by adopting the “Accountability for all” policy.

“The officers of NAB should work fearlessly without taking any pressure and all cases should be conducted on merit on the basis of solid evidence without any bias and keeping aside the social status of the accused as per law,” he added.

NAB officials should work fearlessly without taking any pressure and conduct cases on basis of solid evidence, chairman says

Mr Iqbal said officers shall display highest level of integrity and commitment with regards to their cases and should ensure timely completion of cases in order to bring them to justice as per law.

He appreciated the performance of NAB Rawalpindi under the supervision of Director General Irfan Naeem Mangi and expressed satisfaction on the progress of cases.

The chairman urged NAB officers to always work according to law and directed the prosecution wing of NAB Rawalpindi to well prepare all cases keeping in view all legal aspects, solid evidence, statements of the accused so that the integrity of evidence could be upheld in court.

He said NAB references should serve as case studies and eventually be used as precedents in the judicial system of Pakistan.

Earlier, Irfan Mangi along with his team gave a briefing to the chairman about the fake bank account scam and said his team had recovered Rs13.814 billion so far in it.

He said NAB Rawalpindi had filed six references in accountability courts of Islamabad against former president Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, Abdul Ghani Majeed, Younus Kadwai, Hussain Lawai and others which were under trial.

The Supreme Court had referred the fake bank account scam case to NAB for further investigation in Jan 2019. So far NAB Rawalpindi has arrested 39 accused persons and 41others have been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL). He said 21 inquiries and 12 investigations were underway.

NAB Rawalpindi has also frozen properties worth Rs51.46 billion in the scam and filed a reference against Younis Kidwai, Hussain Syed, ex-KDA administrator; Matanat Ali Khan, ex-metropolitan commissioner KDA; Najam Zaman, ex-director KDA, and others in illegal allotment of amnesty plots in Clifton Karachi.

Mr Mangi said NAB Rawalpindi had also filed a reference against Ahmed Khan, ex-secretary Special Initiatives Department; Hassan Ally Memon, Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majid and Menahel Majid and others in illegal award of contract by government of Sindh special initiative department to M/S Harish and Company.

He said a reference had been filed against CEO of Omni Group of companies Zain Malik, Mohammad Younis, Abdul Jabbar, M. Shabbir, Aftab Ahmad Memon, M. Aslam Quseshi, M/s Bahria Town, and M/s Pink Residency in illegal allotment/regularisation of government land in favour of M/s Pink Residency and others.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2019