Hearing a case on a private bank’s recovery, wherein the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has sought cancellation of Mohammad Tariq’s bail, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S Khawaja, on Monday directed the NAB chairman to submit explanation over usage of bureau’s resources.
During the course of proceedings, the CJP remarked that NAB could not conduct recovery operations for any private bank without the approval of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor. He remarked that the bureau did not catch defaulters responsible for corruption worth billions of rupees and considering big achievement by nabbing defaulters of private banks like Muhammad Tariq.
The CJP questioned if the bureau was “recovery officer of private banks or an authority to eliminate corruption from the society”.
The court observed that according to the NAB Ordinance Section 51-D, the bureau needed the approval of the SBP governor. “If it was not sought then a case can be framed against the bureau,” he said.
The court has issued a notice to the NAB chairman to appear before the court along with details of utilisation of NAB resources at the next hearing.
