ISLAMABAD, Feb 5: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is likely to seek assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US for training of its 50 old and 350 new investigators.

However, the process of appointment of over 350 investigators has been delayed because of what a NAB official called ‘litigation’ by some aggrieved candidates.

“It has already been decided by NAB chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari that NAB investigators would be trained by some foreign agency, probably the FBI,” said NAB’s media wing deputy director Muhammad Irfan.

The main idea behind the decision, he said, was to keep NAB investigators conversant with new investigation skills and methods to investigate white-collar crimes in an effective way.

However, the decision by the NAB chairman appears to be difficult to implement because nobody is sure about the fate of NAB which, according to the government’s plan, could be replaced soon by a new institution called ‘National Accountability Commission’.

Another NAB official said that initially a batch of 50 investigation officers would be sent to the US for training.

“The batch will comprise 50 top investigation officers in the present and incoming lot,” he said.

He said NAB chairman had already talked to the FBI authorities and requested them to impart training to the officials on modern and scientific lines.

Informed sources told Dawn that the process of appointment of more than 350 investigation officers in NAB had been delayed because of litigation as some unsuccessful candidates obtained stay orders from the Islamabad High Court, halting the process.

They said the bureau had received applications in November 2011 but after a lapse of 14 months the process had yet to be completed.