ISLAMABAD, July 20: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said on Wednesday it was not maintaining an exit control list (ECL) of its own though it recommended names, as it removed one from its website that seemed to be outdated listing some dead people. “According to rules and procedures, the exit control list is maintained by the ministry of interior, not NAB,” a bureau statement said in response to a Dawn report on Wednesday that pointed out some dead people and important politicians and government figures often travelling abroad on an ECL available on the NAB website.

That list was removed from the website on Wednesday and a NAB spokesman said another would be placed there soon.

“The names of the accused facing cases in accountability courts are placed on ECL by the ministry of interior on NAB’s recommendations,” the NAB statement said and added: “It, therefore, is erroneous to attribute that the exit control list is maintained by the National Accountability Bureau.”

The Dawn report had referred to the ECL “maintained on the website of the National Accountability Bureau”, rather than by the bureau, which said it listed names as they were until July 14.

The NAB spokesman, Brig Nasir, said the bureau had removed that list from its website on its own initiative because it had caused confusion as some people not required by the bureau in any case, like Mukhtaran Mai, also featured on the document.

Asked if NAB would place a new ECL on its website, he replied in the affirmative and said the list to be available on the bureau’s website “soon” would contain the names of only those people who had cases pending against them.