IHC summons reply from federal govt over Saeed Ahmed’s removal as NBP president

• Justice Minallah criticises appointment of new NBP president through press clippings

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday sought a reply from the federal government over the removal of former National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) president Saeed Ahmad.

Justice Athar Minallah took up the former NBP president’s petition in court and issued notices to the respondents.

Notices have been issued to prime minister’s principal secretary, finance secretary, secretary cabinet division, State Bank governor, the board of directors of National Bank and the attorney general of Pakistan.

During the hearing, Justice Minallah questioned, “Were orders given for removal of others as well or only Ahmed?”

To this, the counsel replied, “An order was only given for the removal of Ahmed but the appointment of a new NBP president has been approved by the federal cabinet and a press clipping of that is available.”

Justice Minallah then responded, “Orders cannot be issued through newspaper clippings.”

The hearing of the case has been adjourned till September 10.

FORMER NBP PRESIDENT CHALLENGES SUSPENSION IN IHC: 

On Thursday, Saeed Ahmad had challenged the order of his removal from office in the IHC.

The petition was filed on Saeed’s behalf by Advocate Faiz Rasool.

The petition had said that “Saeed never violated any rules or regulations during his tenure nor had he faced any departmental inquiries.”

“The government didn’t frame any charges against him nor was he issued a show cause notice before he was suspended,” it added.

It had demanded that the suspension notice issued by Finance Secretary Arif Ahmad Khan on August 28 should be declared null and void.

APPOINTMENT OF NEW NBP PRESIDENT: 

The Ministry of Finance had appointed Tariq Jamali as the acting president/chief executive officer of National Bank of Pakistan on Wednesday.

The federal cabinet had removed Saeed Ahmad on Tuesday on the recommendation of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Earlier on June 20, an accountability court had reserved verdict against Saeed in the supplementary reference filed against former finance minister Ishaq Dar. The reference was related to money laundering worth millions of dollars.

Judge Muhammad Bashir had heard the case, in which the nominated accused Saeed, Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Raza of Hajveri Trust appeared before the court.

The petitioner stressed that his client should be allowed to complete his tenure till January 2019.