ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has informed the Supreme Court that it is pursuing 150 mega scams involving approximately Rs428.3 billion in financial and land irregularities and abuse of power. The list implicates big guns like Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and two former premiers, Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Asharaf, a caretaker prime minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and former president Asif Ali Zardari.

The information was submitted before a three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja. The bench had asked for a comprehensive report while deploring that the bureau was not investigating mega scandals and instead wasting its resources and energy on petty matters.

On Tuesday the court had taken up a case relating to maladministration and poor performance of the bureau.

The list not only contains names of politicians, former federal and provincial ministers, but also senior bureaucrats and individuals from the banking or financial sector.

Expressing shock over the NAB report, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was quick to react against the allegations and its senior leader Ishaq Khakwani said his party had been arguing that both the ruling PML-N and the PPP were in cahoots with each other.

“So many references against many politicians of the two parties are lying in the cold storage,” lamented Mr Khakwani while talking to Dawn, adding that many cases went to courts, but yielded no results due to weak prosecution.

Now with the intervention of the Supreme Court, at least people would learn about big names in corruption and mega scams, he said.

PTI’s central information secretary Naeemul Haq said that the PTI had been saying that NAB had no capacity to go after big fishes under the existing set-up.

Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid said that the cases the PML-N leadership was facing were instituted during the days of retired Gen Pervez Musharraf to victimise the Sharifs. But despite pursuing the cases for eight years, the government was unable to prove anything in courts, the minister added.

The road being referred to in the NAB report, he said, has a university and hospitals across it. Building roads were one of the important aspects of the development to provide ease of movement to the citizens, he added.

Mr Zardari’s spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the former president was facing politically motivated cases and that he had been acquitted in two corruption cases.

The 34-page summary highlighted 150 cases each of financial scam, land scam and abuse of power. Of these,71 cases in the three categories are still in the inquiry stage by NAB, 41 are under investigation and 38 references have already been filed and pending in different accountability courts.

The court, however, was not amused and rejected the report since there was no mention when these cases were initiated and for how long these were still being inquired into or investigated or pending in the accountability courts. The bureau is required to furnish the report afresh with all details.

In the category of abuse of official authority, the NAB report says that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, are facing investigation for misappropriating Rs126 million by misusing their authority in the construction of a road from Raiwind to the Sharif family house. The case is still at the investigation stage, though it came to the notice of NAB in April 2000.

The prime minister is also facing another charge of illegal appointments in the FIA by misusing authority in 1999.

Similarly, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is facing a probe for amassing assets beyond means. The case is still at the investigation state.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari was facing allegations of amassing wealth beyond means worth Rs22 billion.

Former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, former finance minister Shaukat Tareen, former Pepco chief Tahir Basharat Cheema and water and power secretary Shahid Rafi are also facing investigation in the rental power producer contract to different rental companies.

Former caretaker prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and former chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Elahi also figure in the list of alleged illegal beneficiaries for misusing their authority to the tune of Rs2.4 billion.

Likewise, former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is being investigated on a charge of misuse of authority in the illegal appointment of Tauqir Sadiq as chairman of Ogra. Tauqir Sadiq is also facing corruption cases worth Rs80 billion.

A former chief minister of Balochistan, Nawab Aslam Raisani, is facing investigations for misusing authority in recruitments but the size of the corruption has not yet been determined by NAB.

In another case of financial scam, the former chief minister is being investigated in a case worth Rs100 million. Balochistan sports minister Shah Nawaz Marri is facing a case of misuse of authority worth Rs8 billion.

PPP Senator Sehar Kamran, who was former principal of Pakistan International School, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), is facing investigation over charges of embezzlement of school funds worth 170,000 riyals.

Former information minister Firdous Ashiq Awan is facing allegation of misusing authority and embezzlement in a movable property case.

Jahangir Siddiqui of Messers Azgard Nine Limited is facing a case of misappropriation of funds, insider trading and causing loss to the public worth Rs2 billion.

Former Balochistan industries and commerce minister Mir Abdul Ghafoor Lehri is being investigated for accumulation of assets beyond his known source of income to the tune of Rs8 billion.

Mian Mohammad Mansha is facing charges in a case relating to the privatisation of Muslim Commercial Bank.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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