LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday decided to upgrade investigation against Tahir Khursheed, former principal secretary to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, after his “constant non-cooperation” with it.

Mr Khursheed, a BS-21 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, is currently serving additional secretary with the National Food Security and Research Division.

Official sources told Dawn the NAB resented the ‘cold attitude’ of Mr Khursheed in the face of its investigation against him for allegedly possessing assets beyond his known sources of income.

“Non-cooperative attitude of Mr Khursheed has compelled the NAB to convert the complaint verification against him into a full-fledged inquiry,” a source said and added the decision had been taken after his skipping of NAB’s hearings since July last.

“Mr Khursheed neither bothered to appear before a joint investigation team of the bureau nor presented any reason through his counsel when he was summoned thrice since July,” he said.

The NAB has sought from Mr Khursheed the record of his inherited properties. It also asked him to provide complete details of the movable and immovable properties owned/acquired/purchased/sold/disposed of by his and his family members.

He was also asked to present details of investment in shares/companies by his and his family members, bank accounts held by him and his family members, copies of assets declarations pro formas submitted by him to the department and copies of income tax returns and wealth statements submitted to the (Federal Bureau of Revenue) should be provided to the bureau.

Before getting the posting in the federal government last month, Khursheed remained principal secretary to Buzdar for some 10 months. He had also served in communications and works, and local government and community development.

After Khursheed assumed the principal secretary position, reportedly a powerful group, called the ‘TK (Tahir Khursheed)’ emerged that occupied all top positions in the provincial bureaucracy.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2021