NAB to initiate corruption references
An Executive Board meeting of NAB on Monday, under its chairman, set the wheels of the July 28 Supreme Court verdict on Panama-gate rolling by deciding to file references in four of the five cases ordered by the apex court. The exception was the same case in which the NAB chief was earlier upbraided by the SC for showing laxity by not filing an appeal against the Lahore High Court ruling dismissing it, and which poses a grave threat to the Sharif cause: Hudaibiya Paper Mills, truly a legal land mine. This deliberate act of omission or anomaly is not the end of the matter for, in case of any doubt, it is the Supreme Court that ultimately, inevitably, prevails. However, a bit of confusion has crept in and should be settled between the SC and NAB, as this case has a decisive bearing on the overall outcome.
More uncertainty revolves around the identity of the official charged by NAB to head the references’ filing in the Accountability Courts, as different names have cropped up in the media, including that of Irfan Naeem Mangi, the DG, NAB, Baluchistan, also a member of the Panama JIT and considered a whiz kid in probing white collar crime, but whose inclusion the NAB authorities deny. To avoid undue public speculation, the various selections and the entire process of filing references must be clear, transparent and above-board through timely press releases. The four corruption references being filed pertain to the Sharif family’s London flats, Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Establishment, sixteen companies allegedly owned by them abroad and against the former Finance Minister for assets exceeding his known source of income, plus others named in the above SC decision. To press its case, NAB will rely on the JIT report, its own related inquiries as well as those of FIA and material received under mutual legal assistance.
It is NAB’s responsibility to the nation to proceed with determination, cool prudence and astuteness, carefully, methodically and skilfully, while ferreting out the truth of the matter within the laid-down time frame.