ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday initiated investigations against the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ameer Muqam, for the accumulation of wealth beyond his known sources of income.

The decision to authorise the investigation was made in a NAB meeting presided over by NAB chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal.

The NAB spokesman said in an official press release that the meeting held at the NAB headquarters had authorised four new inquiries. Mr Muqam, Maulana Amir Zaman, Abdul Malik Kakar and Peshawar District Nazim Asim Khan will all be investigated for allegedly amassing assets beyond their declared sources of income.

Justice Iqbal directed NAB’s KP director general to verify allegations against Mr Muqam. The ruling party in the province, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), had also accused the ex-MNA of being involved in massive financial corruption over the last 15 years and had requested NAB to launch a probe.

The PTI had claimed that Ameer Muqam had managed to embezzle millions of rupees every year during the last 10 years while overseeing the construction of the Swat-Bisham road. The PTI alleged that instead of working to develop the deprived district, the provincial PML-N president had made mansions for himself in every city of the country.

Almost all the top leadership of the PML-N is currently under investigation on corruption charges, including ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique.

Presiding over another meeting, the NAB chairman authorised Balochistan NAB director general to verify a complaint against MNA Maulana Ameer Zaman for the alleged misappropriation of development funds and amassing wealth beyond his means. He was also asked to investigate complaints against Balochistan MPA Abdul Malik Kakar for embezzling development funds.

In addition to the probes in Balochistan, the NAB chief instructed the NAB director general in KP to investigate allegations against Peshawar District Nazim Mohammed Asim Khan for misuse of funds and distributing money among loyal employees without fulfilling legal requirements.

Impersonator arrested

The intelligence wing of NAB on the directions of the NAB chairman arrested Jamil Ahmed for masquerading as a director of NAB and blackmailing several people by threatening to carry out investigations against them.

According to preliminary reports, Jamil Ahmed would coerce his victims — which included both government officials and private citizens — into paying him money for shutting down investigations that he had allegedly authorized against them. The accused Jamil Ahmed confessed to the crimes after he was arrested for questioning.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2018