LAHORE, April 21: An army official of the rank of lieutenant-colonel has been appointed head of the National Accountability Bureau’s Punjab prosecution wing, which had been previously controlled by the civilians, to speed up the preparation of the NAB references.
Sources told Dawn on Monday that the decision to place the prosecution wing under the supervision of an army man for the first time had been taken keeping in view the NAB’s failure to hire deputy prosecutor general despite a lapse of more than two months. Previously, the DPG used to head the prosecution wing and coordinate with the investigation wing in this capacity.
Sources said timely preparation of the NAB references was not possible due to the unavailability of a DPG, and the NAB authorities finally decided to hire the services of Lt-Col Agha Haseeb Haider to head the prosecution wing.
However, they did not disclose the term of his office, saying it would depend on the authorities’ decision.
The candidates interviewed by the NAB for the post of DPG did not accept the condition of suspending private legal practice. Prior to this, all the three DPGs, who worked in the Punjab, were entitled to practise privately.
In the absence of the DPG, the NAB has already engaged a law officer from the Punjab Advocate General’s office on non-salary basis to plead its cases before the Lahore High Court as a substitute for its DPG.
The sources said the new incumbent would use the powers previously exercised by the DPG to head the prosecution wing.
These powers include supervizing the progress regarding the collection of incriminating evidence in inquiries conducted by the investigation wing.
Besides, the prosecution wing head could also give opinion on a draft reference whether it was trial worthy and should be sent to the NAB chairman for its final approval, they said.
According to sources, no decision had been finalized as yet whether the newly-appointed head should be entrusted with the powers of appointing special prosecutors in the trial courts to plead the NAB references.
They said the Punjab NAB Director-General was using these powers once exercised by the prosecution wing head. The powers to appoint the special prosecutor were revoked from last DPG Javed Shaukat Malik.
It is learnt that the incumbent, coming from Armoured Division, would work with the NAB’s law officer Justice Qurban Sadiq (retired) for legal opinion on the draft references.
The sources added that he would also be coordinating with the counsel appearing for NAB before the appellate courts to seek feedback from them.