Inquiry into ‘illegal’ appointments: FIA summons 19 bank officials

ISLAMABAD: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has summoned 19 officials of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in an inquiry into alleged illegal appointments on contractual basis.

According to the official communication sent out by the FIA stating that FIA CBC, Karachi, called (in person) 19 following senior position (contractual) officials of NBP in first phase on account of their alleged illegal appointments in NBP vide their letter No. FIA/CBC/ENQ-01/2021/11/74-75 dated 20.04.2021 with the instructions to produce the documents for processing of these appointments.

The summoned 19 officials of NBP, included Arif Usmani (President), Chairman & Member Board HR & Remuneration Committee, Asma Shaikh (Group Chief HR), Saad Ur Rehman Khan, Group Chief Int'l Banking, Amin Manji, SEVP/CIO, Mehnaz Salar, EVP/Head Legal, Adnan Aly Agha, SEVP/CRO, Mudassir Hassan Khan, EVP-RMG, Mirza M Asim Baig, EVP-HRMG, M Abdul Moeed, EVP-Compliance Group, Riaz Hussain EVP-Int'l, Banking Group, Danish Bin Inbissat, SVP-HRMG, Abbas Ali Hatim SVP-HRMG, S Kaleem A Riaz, SVP-HRMG, Ms Nida Haider, SVP-HRMG, Moiz Uddin Khan, SVP-Compliance Group, Abdul Waheed Sabir, SVP-HRMG, Riazuddin, SVP-HRMG and Naeem Baloch, VP-HRMG.

The official communication stated that they instructed them to appear before FIA in person, along with furnishing certain documents on April 26, 2021, such as requisition form and approval of vacancy, internal circular regarding advertisement for the post, external advertisement for the post, board approval for changes in organogram and total number of staff of the bank with creation of vacancies, approved Office Note by President for the vacancy creations for the posts, approval note for appointment of selection committee as per rule 8 of Staff Service Rules 1973, job application and curriculum vitae submitted by selected candidates before selection, list along with qualification and experience of all internal and external candidates applied for the post, internal candidates signed interview assessment score and summary sheets for the posts, documents citing reasons of rejection of internal candidates and approval of the President for hiring external candidates, external Candidates Interview assessment scores and summary sheets for the posts, resolution of Board of Directors (BOD) for formation of Board HR and Remuneration Committee (BHRRC), minutes of meeting of BHRRC regarding interview, discussion, observation and recommendations regarding internal candidates and external candidates for the posts, where key executives accused were appointed, minutes of meeting of BOD regarding approval of candidates for the posts where key executives accused were appointed, details of relaxation to Rules or Policies allowed along with approval note/minutes of meeting for such relaxation, appointment letters of alleged, verification of antecedents of alleged and status thereof, copies of Fit & Proper Test form submitted to SBP in respect of Key executives accused, proofs of last drawn salaries by alleged submitted to NBP, proofs of nationality/dual nationality as declared by accused as per Rule 9 of SSR 1973 and list of all employees hired on contract after 09.03.2019 along with their grades, internal and external advertisement dates and educational and experience status.