NAB losing public trust: SC

Asks NAB chairman how much losses organisation is making

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday observed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is losing the trust of the masses with the passage of every second and has the worst condition of affairs.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan summoned the complete record of a mega corruption case regarding recovery of heavy amount from Balochistan’s ex-secretary finance Mushtaq Raisani, ex-finance minister Khalid Lango and others from NAB. It asked the NAB chairman about the losses the organisation was making. The bench was hearing a post arrest bail plea of Khalid Lango.

During the course of hearing, NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Prosecutor General Waqas Qadeer Dar and Farooq H Naek, the counsel of Lango, appeared before the bench. The bench showed annoyance over the NAB chief for not filing a reply.

Whether the NAB chief wants to receive a contempt of court notice, Justice Faez Essa asked adding that the court would not face any difficulty issuing the contempt notice.

On court query, Prosecutor General NAB informed the court that despite passage of more than eight months, NAB has not filed reference against Khalid Lango. Prosecutor General NAB informed the court that Mushtaq Raisani and co-accused in mega corruption case have looted for three years the whole budget allocated for local government adding that just Rs50 million has been spent.

On court’s query, he said that another accused Saleem Shah also has been released through plea bargain. The court directed NAB to bring the record of Saleem Shah’s case as well. Subsequently, further hearing of the case has been adjourned till today (Thursday).