ISLAMABAD: Unknown elements accessed records of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) recently, sources in the law ministry told Dawn on Friday.

Although cases of corruption filed by the bureau against politicians have been wrapped up under the NRO, there is a lurking fear that the controversial ordinance could be abolished or repealed by the Supreme Court, bringing back the cases to haunt them once again.

According to a source, a consultant to the law ministry, Shumaila Mehmood, had spent over two months in the NAB headquarters to supervise scrutiny of classified documents.

‘During her stay she was authorised to check record of any case including those of top leaders,’ an official of the law ministry told Dawn.

Officials of the law ministry went through the cases of President Asif Ali Zardari, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and others, a source alleged.

It could not be ascertained what the officials of the law ministry had spirited out, but it is believed that they had attained what they wanted.

Many unsuccessful attempts were made to get in touch with Ms Shumaila Mehmood. One of her subordinates said she had gone to Karachi on business.

Media reports suggested recently that Interior Minister Rehman Malik had visited NAB’s headquarters shortly after the establishment of the PPP-led coalition government last year. The government had denied those reports.

Sources said despite unauthorised scrutiny of the bureau’s record, the top official of NAB acted smartly and did not provide them the ‘material they were looking for’.

The NAB has been under tremendous pressure and its fate is hanging in the balance since the government announced that it would be replaced by another accountability department.

For establishing new accountability apparatus in the country, the government has proposed an Accountability Commission Bill that bars the prosecution of any public office-holder after three years of the expiry of his term.

The opposition believes that if the proposed bill is passed, it would give immunity to President Asif Ali Zardari, two former prime ministers Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, some former governors, chief ministers, several former federal ministers and provincial ministers.