LAHORE, Sept 1: Almost all employees of the anti-corruption and economic crimes wings of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have refused to join the National Accountability Bureau following the merger of the wings with the NAB on Aug 17.

A total of 483 employees, including three directors, 22 deputy directors, 33 assistant directors and 63 inspectors, of the two wings were given the choice to join the NAB or be ready to go to the surplus pool of the establishment division.

Talking to Dawn, the FIA officials said the employees had chosen not to join the NAB because of its 'uncertain future'. Besides, they said, the employees were worried about the job security when the army would not be in power.

Under the merger agreement, the NAB has to absorb 33 per cent of the anti-corruption wing's 1,114 employees and 100 per cent of the economic crime wing's 330 staff. The officials said that the NAB might face a difficult situation in the wake of the employees's refusal.

Because, they pointed out, some 5,000 inquiries and cases of the two wings were being transferred to the NAB. "To deal with these cases and inquiries without the FIA staff would be difficult for the NAB," they said.

Meanwhile, the FIA director-general has asked some deputy directors of the two wings to assist the NAB in dealing with the transferred cases till the completion of the merger process.

The sources said that these deputy directors would repatriate to the FIA after getting the job done. The FIA has been given new domains like kidnapping, cyber crime, food adulteration and crime against the state.

The sources said that the surplus staff might be absorbed in the wings set up to deal these crime. The government had notified the merger of these wings with the NAB in late August.

Shafiq Ahmed adds from Peshawar: According to a notification issued by the FIA headquarters in Islamabad on Monday, the 483 employees have been asked to join the NAB within seven days.

The notification said that in case no consent or option of an employee was received within seven working days, it shall be considered as consent for his transfer to the NAB.

Sources said that the FIA had selected 44 officials from the Frontier province to transfer them to the NAB. The list includes a retired deputy director, Fazle Bahadur, and a dead official, sub-inspector Mohammad Younas.