The executive board meeting of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday formed a committee to scrutinise around 40 cases pending with the accountability watchdog against top politicians of the country, including cases against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, that may have been initiated on political grounds during the previous regimes, so as to bring them to a “morally logical conclusion”.
The meeting also took some other important decisions by approving closure of a few cases against influential persons on the pretext of “lack of evidence”, besides authorising enquiries and investigations into important cases headed by NAB Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bukhari.
“Yes, the meeting was informed that about 40 cases are pending with NAB for years which were initiated either by the bureau or by the Qaumi Ehtasab Bureau, which also include cases against the Sharif brothers and family. It was decided that a committee be formed to scrutinise all such cases to bring them to a logical end,” said a source privy to the details of the meeting.
The board meeting approved enquiries against various individuals involved in corrupt practices for illegal allotments, misuse of authority and misappropriation of public funds.
The board meeting also authorised enquires in eight cases of willful default by companies of some influential families of politicians and others pertaining to the Rs 1.8 billion Bank of Punjab scam.
The meeting authorised investigations against Raja Muhammad Kamal and
Mushtaq Ahmed of the Senate Secretariat Housing Society for misappropriation of public money, against the Veterans Cooperative Housing Society at Taxila for illegal transfer of plots and against the officials of Haripur Revenue Department for misappropriation of government funds in the purchase of land for Workers Welfare Board Complex at Haripur. The meeting approved the plea bargains of Juma Sher and Khatan Gul in the acquisition of land for Ring Road Peshawar as well as Khalid Aziz and Anwar Aziz of Malik Food Industries. The meeting decided that the cases relating to the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) should be sent to NAB for processing and referred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for prosecution. The board also decided to send a final notice to Dr Abdul Basit to return the money from the Double Shah case deposited with him by one of the accused, to NAB for its disbursement to the victims of the scam.