NAB, FPCCI agree on mechanism to save businessmen from harassment

ISLAMABAD: To regain the lost confidence of business community and save it from harassment like in the past, the NAB top management has agreed to a new mechanism evolved with the consultation of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI).

The new mechanism is being put into place under which the FPCCI will closely work with NAB for facilitation of business community and to address issues that concern businessmen vis-a-vis NAB cases and investigations. Following their meetings on January 16 with the NAB chairman in Karachi, FPCCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh recently wrote a letter to NAB chief Lt Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmed Butt, nominating Ahmed Chinoy, a prominent member of the FPCCI, as the business community’s focal person to liaise with the NAB headquarters in Islamabad as well as its regional offices in all the four provinces.

The NAB will also nominate one of its senior officers as focal person to liaise with the FPCCI through Ahmed Chinoy for addressing the issues concerning the business community. The two sides have agreed that through this mechanism, it will be ensured that no businessman is unnecessarily harassed by the NAB, which in the past has been entertaining all sorts of complaints against businessmen. Such an attitude of NAB had seriously dented the pro-business environment of the country because of which many businessmen opted to shift their businesses to other countries.

Even foreign investors were shy to invest in Pakistan in view of what the NAB has been doing to the businessmen, both local and foreign. The incumbent chairman NAB is making all efforts to address the concerns of businessmen and bureaucracy. On the initiative of chairman NAB, a new mechanism has already been introduced to save government servants from unnecessary harassment and arbitrary arrests by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

As reported by The News, following consultation between the incumbent NAB chairman and the Punjab government has already notified a Scrutiny Committee, comprising senior government servants, to conduct preliminary probe and ascertain the veracity of content of complaint received by the NAB against any government servant. The Scrutiny Committee will ensure civil servants are given adequate opportunity of representation in the NAB. The committee also includes a representative from the NAB.

Similar scrutiny committees are being set up in other provinces to save the members of bureaucracy from being unnecessarily dragged into NAB cases. Although the NAB has been criticised for misuse of its authority since its creation, during the tenure of its last chairman Javed Iqbal, the bureau was ruthless in arresting politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen. Not only highly-reputed senior bureaucrats and businessmen were arrested and jailed for months and even years, cases of corruption were opened without any concrete evidence against many top bureaucrats, including federal and provincial secretaries.

In most of these cases, the courts found no valid grounds for the NAB to proceed against government servants and raised questions over the capability of NAB officials to understand the basic working of government servants.

Because of the harassment of civilian bureaucracy by the NAB, the working of government and its decision-making have seriously been dented owing to which the government performance was also affected. Government servants became shy of taking even routine policy decisions.