ISLAMABAD: Two former chief ministers of Balochistan Sanaullah Zehri and Dr Abdul Malik Baloch have come on the radar of the National Accounta­bility Bureau (NAB) for alleged misuse of authority.

A meeting of the NAB Executive Board presided over by its chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal on Tuesday approved inquiries against the two former chief ministers. Talking to Dawn, a senior NAB official said the inquiry against Mr Zehri and Dr Malik was being initiated for “misuse of authority”.

“The meeting accorded approval to conducting 15 inquiries against various personalities, including two former chief ministers of Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik and Sanaullah Zehri and Akbar Durrani, former secretary, home department, Quetta,” said a press release issued by NAB.

The meeting was attended by NAB deputy chairman Hussain Asghar, prosecutor general (accoun­tability) Syed Asghar Haider, director general (operations) Zahir Shah and other senior officers.

The NAB board approved filing of a corruption reference against Imran Ali Yousaf and others for misappropriation and misuse of government funds for personal gains, casing a loss of Rs499 million to the national exchequer. Another reference was approved against Sarwar Javed and Shahbaz Khan Mandokhel, former members of the Board of Revenue, Quetta, for illegally allotting state land to one Dilshad Akhtar, causing a loss of Rs64.8m to the national exchequer.

The meeting approved eight investigations against different persons, including Mudassar Qayyum Nehra, former MNA; Azhar Qayyum Nehra, former MNA; Muhammad Asif Bilal, former director food, Punjab; Ahmed Sher, deputy director food, Punjab; management of the Balochistan Development Authority; Balochistan Integrated Water Resource Management and Development Project; Haji Zarif Hussain Zai, government contractor; management of the revenue department, Naushaki district; officials of Teaching DHQ Hospital, Dera Ghazi Khan; and M/s Abdullah Sugar Mills Limited, Lahore.

The meeting approved inquiries against various personalities, including Saiful Maluk Khokar, member provincial assembly, Punjab; Punjab public limited companies’ chief executives; Rahim Ziaratwal, former minister, education department, Quetta; Juma Khan, member provincial assembly, Balochistan; Naseebullah Bazai, former additional chief secretary, Balochistan; Tariq Murtaza, Messrs Startrack Traders; Mehar Ejaz Ahmed Machlana, former member provincial assembly/former member disaster management; Rais Ibrahim Khalil Ahmed, former member provincial assembly; officials of the revenue department, Liaquatpur; Arif Azim, former chairman, Pakistan Railways; Mohsin Raza, general manager, Gepco, Gujranwala; Mrs Rani Hafza Kanwal, former assistant deputy commissioner (revenue), Gujrat; M/s Abdullah Sugar Mills.

The NAB board referred inquiries against Akhtar Hussain, Sabina Semab, Shahnaz Qamar, Maqsood Ahmed, Ahsan Sarwar Butt and others to the Federal Board of Revenue for further proceedings as per law.

The NAB chairman told the participants of the meeting that all resources were being utilised to take mega corruption cases to their logical conclusion as per law. He said NAB had directly or indirectly deposited record Rs714 billion in the national exchequer and reputed international institutions had lauded its performance. “NAB has no affiliation with any party, group and individual, but with the state of Pakistan,” he added.

Justice Iqbal directed all regional bureaus to conduct inquiries and investigations by ensuring self-respect of every person as NAB is human friendly organisation.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2020