Former prime minister of Pakistan and the Senior Vice Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Yousuf Raza Gilani. – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has refused to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday to record his statement in the case of alleged illegal appointment of Adnan Khawaja as head of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).

“Mr Gilani will not appear before NAB tomorrow,” Chaudhry Faisal Hussain, the counsel for Mr Gilani, told Dawn on Tuesday, terming the NAB’s notice to summon his client “unconstitutional”.

He said the former prime minister, through a written reply to the NAB’s show cause notice, had sought its withdrawal, terming it uncalled for.

Last week, NAB had issued a “final call-up notice” to Mr Gilani, asking him to appear before its assistant director Mohsin Ali Khan on Dec 11 to face probe into the illegal appointment case of Mr Khawaja.

The notice had been issued by NAB in the light of the Supreme Court’s September 2010 decision in a suo motu case regarding Mr Khawaja’s appointment.

In his reply to NAB, Mr Gilani has defended his act of appointing Mr Khwaja, stating that “all appointments were made in good faith and like any other constitutional functionary” he was “not answerable for his decisions made in official capacity”.

The former premier states: “In addition, in absence of any direct and highly convincing evidence of any wrongful gain, it would be highly irrelevant in law to furnish any reply to allegation in question.”

He further says, “(the) prime minister is the final authority in making hundreds of such appointments, yet his decision is based on summary received from the relevant ministry which contains input from several other officials coming within the domain of the hierarchy of the process for appointment. As such any allegation of illegality or impropriety in these circumstances against the prime minister is based upon misconception of law and constitution.”