ISLAMABAD - National Accountability Bureau Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has suspended an additional director who had attempted to steal documents relating to the Avenfield corruption case from the NAB headquarters a few days back.

A security guard, Abid Hussain, had thwarted an attempt by Additional Director Muhammad Faheem Qureshi to steal sensitive documents related to cases against the Sharif family including those obtained through mutual legal assistance (MLA) from British authorities about the Avenfield reference.

The bureau issued a notification which said: “In terms of section 11.04 of NAB Employees Terms and Conditions of Service (TCS) 2002, Mr. Muhammad Faheem Qureshi, Additional Director (BPS-19), NAB is placed under suspension for a period of three months with immediate effect.”

According to sources, Qureshi was working in the NAB International Cooperation Wing, before he was transferred to Sukkar, when he attempted to pilfer the documents. He was also part of a team which had written letters to different countries for getting information in the ongoing corruption references against the Sharif family. The sources claimed that Qureshi had already leaked two sensitive MLAs regarding the Avenfield case to the media.    

The NAB chairman awarded a cash prize of Rs10,000 and an appreciation certificate to NAB security guard Abid Hussain for thwarting the stealing attempt by the senior officer. The NAB chief had expressed the hope that “other security staff would also follow the footsteps of Hussain under the supervision of the Director Intelligence and Vigilance NAB”.

Last week, the NAB chaired a meeting to review security measures for the security and secrecy of official documents at NAB headquarters as well as in regional bureaus.

He had directed Intelligence and Vigilance Cell of the NAB to ensure the security of official record in NAB headquarters and all regional bureaus and make sure that official record did not reach in the hands of private and irrelevant persons. He had directed the Intelligence and Vigilance Cell of the NAB to ensure complete security of visitors, applicants and staff of NAB and it must be ensured that the official record should not go out from NAB headquarters and regional bureaus except for official purpose and no leakage of official document and breach of secrecy of any official information will be tolerated.