ISLAMABAD: The Executive Board of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) decided on Thursday to initiate action against some high-profile individuals, including a former auditor general of Pakistan (AGP) and some current and former lawmakers.

The decisions included the filing of a reference, four complaint verifications, five inquiries and two investigations against holders of public and private offices, involving irregularities to the tune of over Rs10 billion.

A meeting of the board presided over by NAB chief Qamar Zaman Chaudhry decided to initiate an inquiry against ex-AGP Akhtar Buland Rana as well as carrying out complaint verifications against PML-N MNA Syed Iftikharul Hassan and former Sindh minister Syed Ali Nawaz Shah, the bureau’s spokesperson told Dawn.

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The meeting also decided to close action against former PCB chief Zaka Ashraf and resolved to take no further action against Arif Hameed, the former SNGPL managing director, due to a lack of incriminating evidence.

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The bureau also approved a plea bargain deal with 85-year-old ex-Wapda chairman, retired Lt Gen Zahid Ali Akbar, who had agreed to pay back nearly Rs200 million to the bureau in a decade-old case related to the illegal transfer of state property in Lahore.

The meeting approved the filing of a reference against Matloob Ahmed Khan, former chairman of the Hyderabad Railway Employees Cooperative Housing Society and its former administrator Abdul Sattar Laghari; Naveed Zarar Khan, former managing director of the Sindh Cooperative Society; Hyderabad Development Authority’s Director General Ghulam Mohammad Qaimkhani, Director Mohammad Iqbal Memon and Deputy Director Shahid Pervaiz Memon.

They are accused of corruption and corrupt practices that cost the national exchequer Rs1.84bn.

The board also authorised a number of complaint verifications (CV), the first being against PML-N MNA Syed Iftikharul Hassan, Sarfraz Shah and others for misuse of authority and accruing illegal financial benefits.

The second CV approved was against former Sindh agriculture minister Ali Nawaz Shah and Agha Zafrullah Durrani, director general of Sindh’s Agricultural Engineering & Water Management wing. They are accused of misusing authority and giving illegal orders to officials of the Sindh On-Farm Water Management.

The third CV authorised was against former Punjab minister Zaheeruddin and Akhtar Ali, a former town nazim from Faisalabad, for misuse of authority by illegally acquiring government land by manipulating the revenue record.

The forth CV was authorised against officers from the Ministry of Industries and Production. In this case, the officers are accused of being involved in corruption to the tune of Rs3bn.

The board also authorised five inquiries, including against former AGP Akhtar Buland Rana; Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology’s ex-vice chancellor, Dr Zafar Iqbal; Dr Joseph Wilson, a former acting chairman of the Competition Commission of Pakistan; former Sindh wildlife minister Gayan Chand; ex-forests secretary Waseem Ahmed Ursani and ex-chief conservator of forests Riaz Ahmed Wagan.

A fifth inquiry was authorised against officers of the federal ministries of commerce and industries for causing a loss of Rs2.10bn to the national exchequer.

The meeting also authorised two investigations – one against Abid Javed Akbar, former chairman of the National Insurance Corporation Limited; GM Finance Muhammad Zahoor; Executive Director Ejaz A. Khan; Manager Investment Shahab Siddiqui and First Dawood Investment Bank Limited (FDIBL) Chairman Rafique Dawood. They are accused of misusing authority by making irregular investments of Rs100m in FDIBL.

The second investigation was authorised against officials of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company, power distribution companies’ chief executives, directors of Distribution Transformers Manufacturers and others. They are accused of causing losses to the national exchequer by giving undue benefit to transformer manufacturers at the cost of state exchequer.

In a Rs3.632bn case, the meeting decided to re-authorise an inquiry against owners of private firm GLOBACO (now Orange Holdings), the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Lahore and private company LANDCO, a subsidiary of DHA.

In an inquiry against Capital Development Authority (CDA) officers and the management of Multi Professional Cooperative Housing Society, NAB decided to refer the case to the CDA with directions to report the final settlement in the light of a judgment of the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2015

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