- NAB chairman says bureau determined to expedite cases against political leaders, not empowered to try military officers in NLC scam
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry Thursday vowed to give priority to pending cases against leaders of major political parties.
“NAB cases against former president Asif Ali Zardari have been reopened while the case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is before the Lahore High Court. NAB will take further measures in the light of LHC ruling,” said NAB chairman during an interactive session with the media in the capital.
The NAB chief committed that the bureau would neither be allowed to be used as a tool for political victimisation nor would permit the big fish to go free.
Chaudhry said the federal government has asked the Law Ministry for filing an appeal for reopening of Swiss Cases against former President Zardari and in this connection a reference has been prepared against the former law secretary. He said the Swiss officials have not accepted the government’s request for reopening of the cases.
He said NAB has not been informed about the action taken against senior military officials in the NLC scandal so far and conceded that under NAB laws, the institution has no power to take action against military officers.
The bureau’s chief said that during his tenure in the past four months, 35 references, including some high profile cases, have been filed in the accountability courts, whereas 26 references have been decided. As many as 21 investigations have been authorised and 23 finalised during this period, he added.
Chaudhry said that 55 enquiries have been ordered and 46 have been finalised or closed. In addition to this, NAB has recovered Rs 1.25 billion through Voluntary Return (VR) and Plea Bargain (PB) and courts have imposed fines amounting Rs 2.4 billion in NAB cases since October 2013 to January 2014 as compared to Rs 615 million recovered through VR and PB during the same period of 2012-13.