NAB deputy chief holding post illegally, says SC

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that National Accountability Bureau’s Deputy Chairman Javed Zia Qazi was violating a court order by continuing to work as acting chairman.

“He is holding the post illegally,” the chief justice observed while hearing a case of NRO beneficiaries Adnan Khwaja and Brig (retd) Imtiaz Ahmed who were sent to jail on the orders of the court on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court ordered the government to appoint a new chairman of the NAB within the 30-day deadline set by it. Only 10 days are left.

The court also declared ‘null and void’ all decisions taken by the NAB’s deputy chairman as acting chairman and asked the bureau’s deputy prosecutor general to present the record of all his decisions in the court. The court had on Sept 1 declared the appointment of acting chairman and prosecutor general of NAB ‘illegal’ and asked the government to appoint new chief of the bureau in one month.

Following the court order, NAB Prosecutor General Irfan Qadir quit his post, but deputy chairman Javed Zia Qazi, who was serving as acting chairman, has been reverted to his original post.

The court observed that despite its orders, Mr Qazi had been working as acting chairman and taking decisions which should be taken only by the NAB chairman.

It has been learnt that Mr Qazi has granted extension in services of four NAB officials which he should not do.

The court observed that NAB chairman could be appointed by the president in consultation with the chief justice and that the duty of the deputy chairman was only to assist the chairman and the deputy chairman could carry out only such functions as might be directed by the chairman.

This is the first time since the establishment of NAB in 1999 that the bureau is without a chairman and its deputy chairman is functioning as its acting chief.

Legal experts are of the opinion that the appointment of Javed Zia Qazi, a customs officer with little known service record, as deputy chairman is part of a government plan to bury all corruption references revived after the Dec 16, 2009, judgment of the Supreme Court against the National Reconciliation Ordinance.