ISLAMABAD, July 7 The Supreme Court was informed on Wednesday that the government intended to appoint, in a few days, a new chairman of the National Accountability Bureau in place of Nawid Ahsan who has resigned.

“I met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani the other day and he assured me that the new NAB chairman would be appointed in a matter of days,” Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq told a three-judge bench hearing the Rs9 billion Bank of Punjab loan scam case.

The statement came a day after revelations that NAB had decided to submit a written reply questioning the jurisdiction of the SC bench to hear the case and accusing judges on it of meddling in the NAB probe and being biased.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, comprises Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday.

“Some names are already in the mind of the prime minister and he is in the process of consultation for the best choice,” the AG said, adding that appointment of the NAB chairman was a legal requirement.

The bench had taken up an application filed by BoP's counsel Khawaja Haris who opposed the appointment of NAB Prosecutor General Irfan Qadir and Deputy Chairman Javed Kazi who is officiating as acting chairman.

Mr Haris argued that Section 6 (C) of the NAB Ordinance barred the deputy chairman from performing duties of the chairman and that the tenure of the prosecutor general was not extendable and after completion of three-year term the same officer could not be reappointed.

When the prosecutor general was given an opportunity to verbally present his point of view, he accused the Supreme Court of “controlling” the BoP loan scan investigations. He said the advocate-on-record who was to submit his reply to petitions challenging his appointment as prosecutor general chickened out at the last moment. Mr Irfan Qadir did not read out his reply which contained severe criticism of the conduct of members of the bench and observations earlier made by them which to him were tantamount to outright transgression in the domain of the executive.

When he tried to submit the reply, the chief justice said the court would not accept it unless filed though the court office, but provided him the opportunity to verbally present his contention.

Mr Qadir said the court had no jurisdiction to control, supervise or interfere in the investigation conducted by NAB officers under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999. Investigation was a function of NAB and not of judiciary and the power of judicial review was available only when there is a violation of any legal provision.

Referring to the alleged exuberance of the BoP counsel in repeatedly attacking NAB investigations and filing of the instant application, Mr Qadir said the application suffered with the conflict of interest and claimed that he had in his possession the statement of BoP former president Hamesh Khan which was submitted to the US State Department.

In the statement Mr Hamesh had accused Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif of seeking favours.

The prosecutor general alleged that Khwaja Haris had also played a pivotal role in watching that interest, adding that the BoP had no locus standi to move the application.

Referring to the allegations of Sheikh Mohammad Afzal, the principal accused in the scam, that he had bought a whole lot of 'worthy' people through Irfan Qadir to get out of the country because his name was on the exit control list, the prosecutor general said he had implicated senior lawyers only on the insistence of Sheikh Afzal whom he was representing then as counsel.

Mr Qadir said that Sheikh Afzal was not satisfied with him although he had won him stays from courts and wanted to expand the legal team.

Sheikh Afzal, who was arrested by Interpol in Malaysia and brought back to Pakistan had confessed to have paid over Rs50 million to Law Minister Babar Awan, Rs10 million to former adviser Sharifuddin Pirzada, Rs20 million to former attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum and Rs7.5 million to Ali Waseem, son of Waseem Sajjad, to get a court verdict in his favour.

Justice Ramday recalled that only because of the Supreme Court the plundered money was recovered, properties of the accused were attached and they were extradited from the US and Malaysia. “No one should be in the impression that he will remain protected in case of anarchy in the society,” Justice Ramday warned. He regretted that wrongdoings at the highest level always permeated to the lowest tier and qabza groups snatching properties of weaker elements of society had become the hallmark of every street and locality.

Irfan Qadir argued that his reappointment was not continuation of his earlier post and said he was the only prosecutor general to have completed the three-year term after the establishment of the post only because of his hard work.

He said that completion of his first term as prosecutor general in a celebrated manner was not his disqualification. Mr Qadir called for widening the scope of the BoP scan investigation and said that huge fees paid to different counsel, including Khwaja Haris, should also be probed.

In his reply, NAB Acting Chairman Javed Kazi said his appointment by the president had been challenged with the motive to halt accountability work in the country. “In the absence of the chairman and restricting the exercise of powers by the acting chairman will lead to a total and absolute collapse of the institution of NAB,” he said.

After hearing both sides, the court reserved its judgment.