PESHAWAR, Nov 12: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman has delegated his powers to the regional directors-general in all the four provinces in cases pertaining to government employees of grade 16 and below.

The step was taken to expedite the process of investigation, official sources told Dawn. NAB Chairman Lt-Gen Munir Hafiez under section 18(c) of the National Accountability Ordinance has delegated powers to the four regional directors general to investigate the cases in their respective jurisdictions from grade 1 to grade 16 government employees without prior approval from the highest authority, they said.

The NAB chairman had also given the power under the same law to the regional directors-general to issue arrest warrants of the accused up to grade 16 and to file reference against him without seeking permission from the chairman, the sources said.

The circular regarding the order of the NAB chief was sent to many NAB officials on Tuesday, the sources added. Group Captain Mohammad Saleem said the order was issued by the NAB chairman in the last week of September. He said the purpose of the administrative adjustment was to accelerate the pace of investigation against the corrupt in government departments.

Before the recent notification, all the regional offices of The NAB used to seek prior approval from the chairman for initiating investigations, issuing arrest warrants and filing references against the accused, the official said.

The workload had been increased since the merger of two wings of the Federal Investigation Agency in the NAB.The recent step would help to bring the corrupt to book in the shortest possible time, the official maintained.