PHC restrains NAB from arresting, harassing contractor

AWKUM equipment supplies case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Monday restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from arresting and harassing the supplier of electronics goods to Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM).

A two-member bench headed by Justice Irshad Qaiser restrained the NAB KP from arresting Muhammad Israr, a supplier of electronics goods and computers to government institutions including AWKUM.       

The court also issued notice to DG NAB KP to submit reply in the case. The supplier of electronics goods to government departments and institutions had filed the petition through his lawyer Sardar Ali Raza, in which he sought an order from the court to stop NAB from arresting and harassing him in a case relating to AWKUM. The lawyer submitted that the NAB had issued a notice to the petitioner, directing him to appear before the NAB KP and provide all the receipts of electronics goods he had supplied to the university.                      

He argued that NAB had no jurisdiction to ask for such information as the case was seven years old. Secondly, he submitted that it was not possible for the petitioner to provide the receipts of all the goods he had supplied to the university.  The lawyer said that the petitioner was a private contractor and had been cooperating with the NAB in its inquiries since 2014, but he feared to be arrested this time and thus requested the court to restrain the NAB from arresting the petitioner.                 

The lawyer informed the bench that NAB was violating its jurisdiction in various cases. He submitted that the NAB should be restrained from using extra-jurisdiction methods during inquiries and investigations.           

It is pertinent to mention that the NAB KP has started about eight inquiries against the AWKUM and its vice-chancellor on the charge of making 700 appointments and misusing funds in various heads.