ISLAMABAD, Sept 20: Officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Interior Ministry infuriated the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly on Wednesday when they blamed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for their inaction against corruption.

“Do you work under the NAB or the government of Pakistan,” PAC Chairman Malik Allah Yar Khan asked CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari and Interior Secretary Kamal Shah during a review of the special 2000-01 audit report on the bungling in the construction of the luxurious Parliament Lodges in Islamabad.

The two officials admitted to the PAC that no action had been taken against the CDA officials held responsible two years ago for overpaying contractors millions of rupees. They said a NAB inquiry into the more than 20 cases of misuse of power and funds prevented them from taking disciplinary action.

But the PAC chairman did not buy the argument. “I am sorry to say that it is sheer negligence on the part of senior officers like you who are running the government that the decisions of the PAC are not acted upon,” he said.

Malik Allah Yar Khan questioned the credibility and jurisdiction of the NAB as a parallel institution for accountability. “NAB is not above the government, or the PAC or the ministry. The government institutions will become useless if officers like you, who are supposed to guide us, treat it otherwise,” he reminded the two officials.

A member of the PAC, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of PML-N, observed that the PAC had disagreed with the findings of NAB many times. “As a member of the National Assembly I believe that NAB has no credibility and many of my colleagues agree,” he said.

Chaudhry Nisar said men in uniform did not accept their faults. “It is the duty of the CDA to account for public money in this specific case. If its fails, the interior ministry must make it accountable. But things are entirely different here,” he added.

The PAC expressed its disappointment over the failure of the interior ministry and the CDA to implement the directives of the Departmental Audit Committee (DAC).