National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal has barred all officials of the accountability watchdog from giving interviews to media outlets, DawnNewsTV reported on Monday.

According to a statement issued by the NAB spokesperson, the bureau has imposed a complete ban on media appearance of all director generals, directors and other officials.

“If the media channels request for information regarding any reference or case, only the bureau's spokesperson has been authorised to share the relevant information [with them],” read the NAB statement.

Moreover, the NAB chairman has sought a complete record of NAB Lahore DG Shahzad Saleem's interviews from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) "so that action could be taken in the light of the law". He has also urged the media outlets to refrain from commenting on the ongoing investigations.

The anti-corruption body, in its press release, made it clear that it "respects all the honourable members of the Parliament".

On Friday, the NAB chairman took notice of TV interviews given by Saleem, who opposition MNAs have accused of maligning and conducting a media trial against them, and of disclosing information about sub-judice matters with the consent of the chairman.

Opposition parties had submitted a "question of privilege" in the National Assembly Secretariat, calling to attention to what they called a "media trial" by the DG NAB Lahore during his appearance on news channels.