NAB constitutes teams to record statements in fake accounts case

Published February 7, 2019
The bureau in its meeting also discussed the transfer of the case from the banking court in Karachi to the accountability courts in Islamabad. — File
The bureau in its meeting also discussed the transfer of the case from the banking court in Karachi to the accountability courts in Islamabad. — File

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday constituted various teams to record statements from Karachi and Islamabad in light of the evidence available in the fake accounts case, a statement released by the bureau said.

The matter regarding the transfer of the case under Section 16-A from a banking court in Karachi to the accountability courts in Islamabad also came under discussion.

According to the statement, the meeting was attended by the NAB prosecutor general, Director General (DG) operations, DG NAB Rawalpindi, and senior officials from the bureau. The meeting was chaired by NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal.

"In light of the Supreme Court decision in the case, the chairman under the leadership of DG NAB Rawalpindi had constituted a Combined Investigation Team (CIT) and had decided that the chairman would himself preside over matters pertaining to the team," the bureau stated in a release.

The statement further mentioned that the CIT had already begun its probe into the case and had submitted a preliminary report.

The report's findings were discussed in today's meeting along with the developments in the case's proceedings so far.

The meeting held today also sought to delineate the roles each of the various teams.

"Some teams will record statements at the headquarters in Islamabad, whereas the others will go to Karachi and record statements based on the evidence available," the NAB press release said.

The chairman directed bureau officials to follow the directives of the Supreme Court in letter and spirit and make use of all resources available in the effort to get to the bottom of the case.

"NAB believes in taking the investigation to its logical conclusion under the relevant laws and in light of concrete evidence," the statement read.

The chairman through the statement also urged the media to avoid speculation regarding the fake accounts case.

Last year, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed by the Supreme Court had submitted a report alleging that a close nexus had been found between a troika of the Zardari Group, Bahria Town and the Omni Group in the fake accounts scam.

The report revealed that at least 29 bank accounts had been identified as fake which had been used for money laundering of Rs42 billion.

The top court, in an order passed in the case on Jan 7, had referred the JIT report and evidence collected to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further investigation, directing the anti-corruption watchdog to wrap up its investigation within two months.

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