The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Punjab could only find nine culprits during the first half of the year, liable to be accountable through courts in a society that has been declared one of the most corrupt states in the world by international organisations like Amnesty International.
During the first half of year 2011, the NAB has filed only nine fresh references in the accountability courts including one closure and one plea bargain case. From January 1 to June 30, the NAB filed references against ex-deputy commissioner (Bahawalnagar) Muhammad Saeed Zafar (PO), ex- deputy commissioner (Bahawalnagar) Khalid Bashir Tarrar, ex-assistant commissioner (Fortabbas) Muhammad Hayyat Kalyar, ex-assistant commissioner (Fortabbas) presently DO-HR (Chakwal) Muhammad Ashraf Bhatti and ex-naib nazim (Tehsil Fortabbas) over the charges of illegal allotment of 1,240 kanal state land under “10 Years Temporary Cultivation Scheme” and “Grow More Food Scheme”.
The NAB filed another reference against Rafique Ahmad Awan former AC/DSC, Malik Masood Ahmad former district officer revenue (DOR, now OSD), Asghar Ali, Abdul Qadir and Chaudhry Muhammad Yousaf Valana, involved in illegal allotment of 4,710 kanal government land under the “Displaced Person Act”, while violating the Supreme Court orders.
Another reference has been filed against executive district officer (EDO) DHDC Training Institute Rahim Yar Khan’s staffer Dr Abdul Waheed who acquired illegal assets worth Rs 235.15 million.
During the same period, the NAB also filed references against Noor Jamal (illegal assets), Abdul Haq (co-operatrive scam), Syed Ibrahim Yaseen (loss to financial institution) and Chaudhry Muhammad Rasheed Khan (illegal assets), Mazhar Wakeel (closure case) and Imran Ali Shah (plea bargain case). Sources told Pakistan Today that the only reason behind this poor performance was un-necessary delays in the appointment of the new National Accountability Bureau chairman.
The chairman NAB‘s seat is vacant since a long time because the government has no interest in this regard, said the sources.
According to the NAB Ordinance, only the chairman is authorised to sign a reference before submitting it in the accountability court and without the signature of the chairman, the reference has no legal status. Hence, a number of references ready to be filed in courts have turned into trash without the chairman’s signature. The government had appointed Syed Deedar Hussain Shah as the NAB chairman but the Supreme Court set-a-side this appointment by declaring Shah un-eligible for the said post. Ever since then, the post is vacant and awaiting new appointment. The law allows NAB deputy chairman to sign references if the chairman is not available, but the NAB deputy chairman has also been restrained from exercising powers by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
A NAB’s prosecutor, requesting not to be named told Pakistan Today that the NAB had been established on the pattern of an ideal institute of accountability that could be compared with world’s best institutions, but the problem was that it had been put under the influence of a government which itself was facing corruption charges. He said institutions like NAB must be autonomous so that they could make decisions on their own.
