ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seems to have a soft corner for the former prime ministers in the PPP-led government — Raja Pervez Ashraf and Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani — as it has not arrested them in the corruption references it has filed against them.

The two are facing charges in corruption cases relating to the rental power projects and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

Usually, the NAB during the course of an investigation arrests an accused and then submits a reference against him to an accountability court. During the trial, it also produces the detained accused before the court.

According to Raja Amir Abbas, a former deputy prosecutor general of the NAB, arrest of an accused is mandatory in a mega scam as the investigation officer cannot probe the matter in a professional manner unless he obtains the custody of the accused.

“It is the discretion of the NAB chairman to issue arrest warrants for the accused during the course of an investigation, but (in the cases against the two ex-premiers) he restrained himself from doing so and threw the ball into the court of an accountability judge,” Raja Abbas said.

In corruption cases involving a sum of money even below one million rupees, the NAB chairman had earlier ordered the arrest of accused persons. The present example (those of Mr Gilani and Mr Ashraf) seems to be a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution. The article assures all citizens that they are equal in the eyes of law.

Last week, the NAB filed two references about the Ogra scam, involving Mr Ashraf and Mr Gilani. One reference is about the appointment of Tauqeer Sadiq as the Ogra chief in 2009 and the other pertains to corruption and irregularities committed in the organisation during Mr Sadiq’s tenure.

A NAB prosecutor said the bureau had done its job and sent the references to the accountability court and now it is up to the judge to decide the fate of the accused.

“The judge can issue arrest warrants…to procure the attendance of the accused and he can ask them to submit surety bonds along with the undertaking that they will attend the proceedings on a regular basis,” said the prosecutor.

An investigation officer of the bureau said that arrest warrants had also not been issued for other accused in the Ogra case facing charges of causing loss to the exchequer and consumers through unfair gas pricing.

The interior ministry, however, has placed the names of the accused, including Dewan Ziaur Rehman Farooqui, chief executive officer of Dewan Petroleum; Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, a Karachi-based stockbroker; Jawad Jamil, an Ogra official; Rashid Lone, a former managing director of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines; Zuhair Siddique, the managing director of the SSGC; and a former MD, Azeem Siddique, on the exist control list.

The officer alleged that since the incumbent chairman of the NAB had worked with both the PPP and PML-N governments and was familiar with leaders of the two parties, he was handling the references with leniency.

Ramzan Sajid, the spokesman of the NAB, refrained from commenting on the matter, saying “it is subjudiced”.

Sardar Latif Ahmed Khan Khosa, secretary general of PPP, said the NAB chairman had the authority to issue arrest warrants for any accused persons. Since there was no tangible evidence against Mr Ashraf and Mr Gilani, therefore the bureau did not issue arrest warrants for them. “We respect the judiciary and our leaders are attending the court proceedings as per the requirement of the law,” he added.