ISLAMABAD, July 6: Heads of regional offices of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) have been empowered to take action against top bureaucrats if they are found involved in white collar crimes.

NAB chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari on Friday delegated his powers to regional directors-general of the bureau, enabling them to issue arrest warrants against government officials of grade 19 and above.

The decision was taken during the two-day meeting of the bureau’s directors-general that ended on Friday.

During the meeting, the NAB chairman decided to delegate his powers to the regional DGs with regard to issuing arrest warrants, initiating investigations and closing probes against officials.

This is the first time that the heads of the bureau’s regional offices have been authorised to take appropriate action against top bureaucrats. Prior to the decision, they could only issue arrest warrants against officials of grade 1 to 16.

“Many cases were delayed as they required special permission of the NAB chairman for taking action against top officials,” NAB spokesman Zafar Iqbal said.

“In many cases officials of grade 16 and above were involved in corruption but they could not be made part of investigations by the regional headquarters. In such cases regional heads were required to seek special permission from the NAB chairman to arrest senior officials,” he said.

The DGs conference discussed many issues including current overall working and performance of the organisation. The DGs apprised the NAB chairman of the performance of their respective offices.