SC stops NAB from arresting NICL ex-chairman

• Two enquiries underway against Niazi
• CJP criticises NAB for not trying to arrest those ‘who are supposed to be taken into custody’

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday barred the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting the former chairman of National Insurance Company Limited (NICL), Ayaz Khan Niazi in a corruption reference pertaining to purchase of real estate on exorbitant rates.

While hearing the case, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar remarked that “two inquiries were underway against Niazi”.

He further criticised NAB for not putting in efforts to arrest those “who are supposed to be taken into custody”.

He said, “The anti-graft body arrests those who are in Pakistan while those who had to be arrested have fled the country,” adding, “we know how people are facilitated in fleeing abroad.”

Earlier, Niazi along with 12 others appeared in court over the NICL scandal, where the CJP had inquired during the hearing regarding the whereabouts of Mohsin Habib. The apex court had ordered to place the name of Mohsin Habib on ECL, however, he fled away abroad

“Mohsin Habib has escaped abroad through Afghanistan and it is learnt that he will come back after the new government comes into power,” he observed.

Later, the court ordered the Accountability Court to complete the trial within two months.

The scandal from five years ago pertains to financial embezzlement by former NICL chairperson Ayaz Khan Niazi, Mohsin Habib Warraich, then commerce minister (late) Makhdoom Amin Fahim, and several others in the purchase of official land.

Niazi was arrested earlier in March 2018 on the directives of the top court. The SC, in its 2013 verdict, had held that Niazi was appointed as the head of NICL in violation of rules and directed NAB investigations against several top bureaucrats and politicians of the country.