ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The federal government on Tuesday issued a notification under which two wings of the Federal Investigation Agency have been handed over to the National Accountability Bureau, interior ministry's spokesman Chaudhry Abdul Rauf told Dawn.

Under the notification, the NAB takes over the Anti- Corruption Wing and the Crime Wing of the FIA, but its demand for control over the agency's financial crime wing has been turned down.

Some laws pertaining to FIA's anti-corruption and crimes wing are now expected to be incorporated in the NAB ordinance. "Cases of financial crimes and banking would be dealt with by the FIA while the NAB would look into documented fraud cases which were being investigated by the FIA under the Pakistan Penal Code," the spokesman said.

The NAB would also deal with minor cases of fraud, corruption and other irregularities of government servants. Earlier, such cases were handled by the FIA under the Anti-Corruption Act, 1947.

The interior ministry spokesman said both the ministry and the NAB were finalising arrangements regarding the handing over of the FIA staff and vehicles to the bureau. "The process would take at least one month," he added.

After taking over two main components of the FIA, the NAB would become the only organisation in the country to deal with major corruption cases, an official source said.

He said that FIA would now deal with immigration, forensic lab and the Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (PISCES) recently installed at airports.

Under the new arrangement, some 751 posts in the FIA would be handed over to the NAB. When contacted, the spokesman of the NAB Brigadier Nasir said he was not aware of any notification about the handing over of two wings of the FIA to the bureau. He, however, said, if it had happened it would be a good news for the NAB.

Shafiq Ahmad adds from Peshawar: As a result of the decision, over 700 sanctioned posts in the FIA would be abolished. Now, he said, FIA would concentrate on issues related to passport circle, immigration and anti-terrorism.

According to sources, President Gen Pervez Musharraf had planned to give maximum powers to the NAB since its formation four years ago. But it took a long time to decide to shift the responsibility of dealing with anti-corruption cases and crimes in banking circle from the FIA to the NAB.

The NAB had conducted in 2001 interviews of a number of FIA officials to accommodate them in the bureau. Three FIA officials were selected from Peshawar, but the NAB did not call them as it was waiting for a final decision from the Establishment Division.

Sources said the NAB would again interview FIA officials and absorb some of them, while the rest would be sent to the surplus pool.