ISLAMABAD: Following Supreme Court’s observation against the National Account­ability Bureau (NAB) in the Panamagate case on Tuesday, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) demanded the resignation of NAB chief Qamar Zaman Chaudhry.

On the other hand, the government defended the NAB chief at a press conference and insisted that it was not possible to remove him simply based on remarks passed in the apex court.

“Whatever happened today with the NAB chairman in the Supreme Court, he should resign on moral grounds,” PTI chief Imran Khan said at a press conference.

He said the Supreme Court had expressed dissatisfaction with NAB for not filing an appeal in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case which had been decided by the Lahore High Court in favour of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family in 1998.

Ministers say NAB chief appointed after govt-opposition consensus

Referring to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s statement in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case, Mr Khan insisted that the statement had revealed the “actual money trail of Nawaz Sharif’s offshore investments”.

The PTI chief said state institutions — NAB and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) — were protecting the prime minister’s family. “NAB was making lame excuses before the Supreme Court to protect the prime minister,” he added.

He accused the prime minister of destroying state institutions in order to keep himself away from being held accountable. “When a ruler commits corruption, he not only harms the wealth of the country, but also makes [state] institutions subservient [to him],” he remarked.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court questioned why NAB did not have a regulator. “The prime minister is NAB’s regulator and thus the bureau does not take action against him,” Mr Khan asserted.

Responding to these allegations at a separate press conference, Federal Minis­ter for Capital Adminis­tra­tion and Development Divi­sion Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Daniyal Aziz of the Pak­is­tan Muslim League-Nawaz said that the NAB chairperson had been appointed after seeking consensus from all opposition parties.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah had taken all opposition parties in confidence before giving his consent to Mr Zaman’s appointment as NAB chairman, the minister said.

He insisted that the prime minister alone had not appointed the NAB chairperson and, therefore, it was not up to the government to remove him from his constitutional office. “The PM alone does not have the power to appoint the NAB chairperson...he can only be removed according to the same process required for the removal of a superior court judge,” he added.

According to the Constitution, a case seeking the removal of a NAB chairperson has to be sent to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). If the council decides to remove him/her, the case will be forwarded to the Supreme Court chief justice for final approval.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2017