Shake-up in NAB over withdrawal of cases

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

ISLAMABAD: As the government closed in on NAB, some eight senior officials of the Bureau were transferred on Friday and one was sacked. Observers saw the dramatic move as a bid by the government to wrest control of the bureau.

The high drama, which unveiled its various twists and turns in the full view of the media, began on Thursday evening when NAB issued an official press release that the bureau was not ‘withdrawing’ any case against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The clarification had been sent by NAB Spokesman Ghazni Khan. Dawn has learnt that the press release had been approved by NAB’s top officials.

However, late in the night, NAB apparently had a change of heart about its press release. A senior official of the NAB, Brig (retd) Ashfaq Ashraf, contacted Dawn and requested that the press release be ignored as it was issued by the spokesman in his individual capacity and that it had nothing to do with NAB; he also broke the news about Mr Khan’s sacking.

Why a spokesman would issue a statement in his personal capacity when his job was to speak on behalf of an organisation was a question that did not strike the NAB officials.

The reasons for NAB’s summersault, observers are convinced, lie in the finer details of the press release. Denying media reports that had said that NAB was considering withdrawing a money laundering case (Cotecna pre-shipment inspection case) against President Asif Ali Zardari, the official press release issued on Thursday stated: “No case can be withdrawn without the absence of credible evidence, solid reasons and on the basis of merits and above all consent of the concerned courts.”

This was taken to mean that NAB was not withdrawing the case as it had credible evidence against the president.

And it is for this political faux pas on the part of the NAB which led to the sacking of the spokesman.

Mr Khan told Dawn that the press release was issued after thorough checking and editing but that he (the spokesman) had been made a scapegoat. Mr Khan, who served the bureau for over two years, has been asked to report to his parent department — the ministry of information.

Dawn has learnt from officials close to the recent developments that the Presidency put the NAB bosses on the mat for officially admitting that the bureau had “credible evidences” against the president.

It was further disclosed that lack of coordination between the presidency and the law ministry led to the press release being issued.

When contacted, Spokesman for the President Farhatullah Babar said the presidency had nothing to do with the NAB affairs and that it had never asked the bureau to withdraw any cases. “Whatever it decides about the cases is purely up to the NAB,” he added.

Sources in NAB said that recent developments as well as the transfer of the officials made it evident that the government was trying to tighten its control over the bureau in a bid to rid itself of the spectre of an indictment in these cases.

In fact, these efforts started soon after the resignation of Nawid Ahsan, the chairman of NAB, on June 14. He was replaced by NAB’s deputy chairman, Javed Qazi, who in comparison to his predecessor was seen to be on the same page as the government; it was under him that NAB was said to have decided to withdraw the cases it had initiated against ruling party leaders, starting from the interior minister.

This is why on Friday NAB transferred some eight senior officials from the headquarters to other stations. Some of these long-serving officials had been dealing with the cases of ruling party leaders, including the president, that have been reopened after the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) had been scrapped by the SC judgment.

The NAB’s Director Administration Shahzad Saleem is among those who have been transferred.

Before these transfers, NAB’s Prosecutor General Irfan Qadir had already said that there was nothing wrong in withdrawing what he called ‘bogus’ cases. He substantiated his statement by saying: “NAB will request the concerned courts to withdraw all such cases that were made without credible evidences.”

The NAB has already sought withdrawal of two cases against Interior Minister Rehman Malik -- in one he was accused of supervising a raid conducted by a team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) at the residence of Abbas Raza and Hashim Raza and taking away Rs0.7 million as well as some gold ornaments. Mr Malik was serving as Director General FIA at that time. In the second reference he is alleged to have received, as DG FIA, two vehicles as ‘commission’ while purchasing other vehicles from a motor company for his department.