NAB approves inquiries against Musharraf, Durrani, Moonis, Aleem, others

ISLAMABAD: In a major move on Friday, the Executive Board of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) approved inquiry against former President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf allegedly for abuse of power and accumulating assets beyond known source of income.

The decision to initiate the inquiry against Pervez Musharraf was made after Islamabad High Court (IHC) verdict through which it asked that it could initiate the inquiry against Pervez Musharraf on the plea of Col (retd) Inam Rahim, who also a lodged a complaint against him for accumulating wealth beyond known source of income.

Besides Musharraf, the Executive Board of NAB also gave go-ahead for holding inquiries against Federal Minister for Housing and Works Akram Khan Durrani, senior leader of the PML-Q Moonis Elahi, senior leader of the PTI Aleem Khan, officials of FBR and Federal Tax Ombudsman Pakistan, Ambassador in Cuba Kamran Shafi and owners of the offshore companies whose names were on the Panama leaks.

The Executive Board held its meeting on Friday with NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal in the chair in which the decision of filling of references, complaint verification, inquiries and investigations against some politicians and bureaucrats was taken.

Justice Javed Iqbal said he wanted to make sure that the NAB has respect for all politicians of the country and if NAB takes action on corruption charges, then it did not mean character assassination of anybody. “NAB is working as per law and its action is based on facts, evidence and law and NAB does not believe in the character assassination of any politician,” he said.

He said if inquiry against a politician for corruption was carried out, then it was only under the law but it did not mean character assassination. “The NAB action could be presented before the court,” he said.

He said NAB officials were working to eradicate corruption from the country as a national duty and doing their job with best of their abilities to make a corruption-free Pakistan. “All complaint verifications, inquiries and investigations will be completed under the stipulated time as per merit, transparency and with solid evidences,” he said.

The Executive Board of the NAB approved the inquiry against the officials of Federal Tax Ombudsman and FBR for corruption and corrupt practices and misuse of powers to making tax refunds that caused a loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer. The Board approved inquiry against Akram Khan Durrani, MD/CCO of Pakistan Housing Authority Foundation, Company Secretary Zafaryab Khan and other officials for allegedly misusing power for illegal allotment of PHF land which was reserved for mosques on the Kuri Road in sectors of I-12, and 1-16 to favourties.

The Board approved an inquiry against Moonis Elahi, son of ex-chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, allegedly for corruption and for the offshore company mentioned in Panama Leaks. Inquiry against senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Aleem Khan, owner of Hexam Investments Overseas Limited, and others was because of their alleged corruption and having offshorescompanies as mentioned in the Panama Leaks. The NAB also decided to hold inquiries against Habib Waqas, Ilyas Meraj and owners of M/s Helinible Limited Bhema and Yousaf Abdullah and others for offshore companies and corruption.

The Board approved inquiry against the Bank of Punjab President Naeemuddin and other officials allegedly for misusing of powers for changes in share prices and insider trading.

It approved filing of reference against ex-chairman CDA Imtiaz Innayat Elahi and ex-Member Finance CDA Saeedur Rehman allegedly for corruption and misuse of power in the construction of Cultural Complex at Shakarparian, Islamabad, causing a loss of Rs471.498 million to the national exchequer. It approved inquiry against Pakistan Ambassador in Cuba Kamran Shafi and other diplomats for non-cooperation with NAB and directed for further action against them under Section 31-A.

It approved inquiry against Chief Mechanical Engineer (C&W) of Pakistan Railways Adnan Shafi and others for purchase of 1405 hopper wagons for Pakistan Railways for loading coal that caused a loss of Rs168 million to the national exchequer.

It approved inquiry against Tariq Javed, Makhdoom Omer Shehryar and others for suspicious transaction. It approved reference against ex-chairman NICL Abid Javed Akbar and administration of FDBIL for allegedly misusing power for investing Rs100 million illegally in FDBIL that caused a loss of Rs67.056 million.

The board approved investigations against officials of the Department of Land Utilization of Sindh for allegedly misusing of power for illegal allotment of the government land to private individuals that caused a loss of millions of rupees to national exchequer. It gave approval for the inquiry against ex-DG Pakistan Railways Ghulam Muhammad Qureshi for accumulating assets beyond known source of income.

The approval for the inquiry against JS, officials of the Sindh Social Relief Fund and others was also approved for misappropriation and embezzlement of Rs3 billion.

The Board gave approval for inquiry against officials of Provincial Housing Authority Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa for allegedly misusing power for illegal appointments. Another investigation against the officials of PHA Khyber Pukhtunkhwa was also approved for alleged embezzlements in the funds reserved for construction of roads for Jalozai Housing Scheme Nowshera that caused a loss of Rs795.6 million to the national exchequer. The Board approved inquiry against Additional IG Police Balochistan Dr Majeebur Rehman for allegedly accumulating assets beyond known source of income and embezzlements in government funds that caused a loss of Rs267 million.

It approved inquiry against the Larkana Development Authority Chairman Aamir Zeb Jatoi and other officials for allegedly accumulating assets beyond known source of income, corruption and corrupt practices and embezzlements of government funds that caused a loss of Rs333.48 million to national exchequer. It approved an inquiry against Munir Ahmed, Naeem Khan, Sanam and Sindh Development Organisation for suspicious transactions.

The NAB Executive Board approved inquiry against the Xen Department of Irrigation Jaccobababd Muhammad Sharif Mugheri and other officials for the embezzlement in government funds that caused a loss of Rs501.755 million while another inquiry was approved against the Director SEEDA Ghotki and other officials for illegal appointments, embezzlement in government funds, corruption and corrupt practices that caused a loss of Rs1.9 billion to the national exchequer.