The Executive Board Meeting (EBM) of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday authorised filing fresh corruption references against former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani and former President Asif Ali Zardari for allegedly causing losses worth billions of rupees to the national exchequer.

The meeting also authorised closing the inquiry against Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari due to lack of evidence.

The meeting, chaired by NAB Chairman Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal, authorised filing three corruption references against Gilani, Sharif, Zardari, Khawaja Anwer Majeed and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed in the fake bank accounts case.

The suspects have been accused of receiving gifts and vehicles from the government in violation of rules and regulations which inflicted losses to the national exchequer, said a press release issued by the accountability watchdog on Thursday.

The meeting also approved filing a corruption reference against former ambassador Kamran Shafi and former high commissioner in United Kingdom Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan for causing losses of $27,000 and GBP 28,000 to the national exchequer, respectively.

Besides, the meeting accorded approval for filing a corruption reference against Abdullah Alvi, the honorary secretary of the State Bank of Pakistan Staff Cooperative Housing Society, and others for cheating people and depriving them of Rs7.8 million.

The meeting also authorised conducting four investigations against various personalities including officials of Nishat Chaunian Limited, Nepra and Central Power Purchasing Agency, officers of the Sindh Health Department, programme manager of Hepatitis Prevention and Control Programme, Government of Sindh and others, Balochistan Health Minister Rehmat Baloch and former MNA from district Jacobabad Ejaz Hussain Jakhrani.

NAB’s performance

The bureau’s chairman informed the meeting that they have directly or indirectly recovered Rs158 billion in the last 28 months. He added that the conviction ratio stood at 70 per cent.

The accountability watchdog has filed 630 corruption references in various accountability courts in the last 28 months, while a total of 1,275 corruption references valuing Rs943 billion are currently in various accountability courts.