ISLAMABAD - A special committee formed by the Supreme Court on illegal appointments in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has summoned 22 senior officials including four director-generals of the bureau this week for a personal hearing.
The probe committee has also summoned NAB DG Rawalpindi Irfan Mangi, who was also a member of the Joint Investigation Team on Panama Papers, and DG operations Zahir Shah, who had appeared as a witness in the Avenfield case against the Sharif family in the accountability court last week.
The NAB notice says: “It is submitted that in pursuance of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan dated 31-03 2017 in the suo motu case (No 13 of 2016) and in accordance with Sections 8.02, 8.03 and Chapter-11 of NAB’s TCS, as the case may be, the 22 officers have been advised to appear for personal hearing as per dates mentioned against each at 3 pm in the committee room, Establishment Division Islamabad, if they so desire, along with supporting documents, if any, to satisfy the committee.
The NAB notice says the four DGs, Zahir Shah, Brig (retd) Farooq Naser Awan, Mohammad Altaf Bowani and Husnain Ahmed will appear before the committee on April 4.
The 18 directors and additional directors including Zafar Iqbal, Ghulam Farooq, Abdul Hafeez Siddique, S M Hasnain, Mujahid Akbar Baloch, Abdul Hafeez Khan, Raza Khan, Shahzad Khan, Shahzad Saleem, Nauman Aslam, Mirza Muhammad Irfan Baig, Masood Alam, Fayyaz Ahmed Qureshi, Farman Ullah, Sultan Muhammad Saleem, Attique-ur-Rehman, Tariq Mahmood Bhatti, Mubashar Gulzar and Muhammad Shoaib have been directed to appear before the committee on Wednesday and Tuesday.
The notice further says: “In case, you do not attend the hearing, an ex-part decision will be taken on the basis of your written reply, already received.”
Insistingly, four DGs had been appointed in the last interim set-up with the approval of the former caretaker prime minister. Similarly, DG Lahore Bureau Shahzad Saleem is also facing an illegal degree case.
Last year, the apex court taking the suo motu notice of the illegal appointment had constituted a three-member inquiry committee with a task to examine the appointments, promotions, deputations and absorptions made in the bureau since 1999. Earlier, in pursuance of the Supreme Court order, the NAB had issued show cause notices to 50 officers for personal hearings in the first week of November 2017.
On October 26, the NAB prosecutor presented a report to the Supreme Court stating that of the 102 cases, the committee reviewed cases of 52 officer, but the scrutiny was stopped after the retirement of the former secretary Establishment Division.
