NAB-ed: Four DGs accused of 'corruption'

By
Abdul Qayyum Siddiqui
|
NAB-ed: Four DGs accused of 'corruption'

ISLAMABAD: Senior Officers of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), including four of its Director Generals, may very well be guilty of the offence of corruption as defined in the NAB Ordinance.

Section 9 (iv) of the Ordinance provides that a person is said to have committed corruption if he obtains for himself any pecuniary advantage by illegal means.

An official report on illegal absorptions and subsequent promotions in NAB filed before the Supreme Court of Pakistan has brought to light facts suggesting that several NAB officers were posted to BPS-18 positions illegally, as they did not possess the requisite post academic experience of five years.

The names of the officers who were absorbed in NAB while on deputation from the armed forces, and despite the fact that they did not hold postgraduate degrees at the relevant time, include DG NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Major (R) Shehzad Saleem, DG NAB Karachi, Major (R) Shabbir Ahmed, DG NAB Lahore, Major (R) Tariq Mehmood and DG NAB Quetta, Major (R) Syed Burhan Ali.

Sources in NAB said the top brass of NAB was currently doing its best to justify the appointments on the basis of explanations such as “the two officers hold post graduate degrees but they are not available on the record.”

Sources among the former prosecutors of NAB said such explanations would only expose NAB top brass to prosecution for corruption under Section 9 (xii) of the Ordinance which provides that aiding and abetting a person accused of offence of corruption was also a corrupt act.

According to the report prepared by Secretary Establishment and submitted before the Supreme Court, Major Shehzad Saleem was deputed to NAB in 1999, and he earned his MSc in Computer Sciences from Al-Khair University, AJK, in 2002. Record of the said officer’s service suggests that neither did he obtain a no objection certificate to enroll for the program, nor was he on leave to pursue the degree from Mirpur campus of the University while being posted at Islamabad.

Sources in Higher Education Commission said HEC did not verify degrees awarded by Al-Khair University.

DG NAB Karachi, Major (R) Shabbir Ahmed, as well as Major (R) Tariq Mehmood and DG NAB Quetta, Major (R) Syed Burhan Ali are also named in the report.
Major (R) Shabbir Ahmed is listed as holding MBA with specialization in Human Resource Management. However, his degree is also stated in the report as “not found in the record”. It could not be established if “not found in the record” was meant to suggest that NAB records did not possess a copy if the record of the issuing institution could not confirm having awarded the degree.

Names of both Directors General of NAB are included in the list of 9 officers whose case will be considered by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday to judge if they are qualified to be retained in their respective offices or not.

The Supreme Court had directed Senior Advocate Khawaja Haris at the last hearing past Wednesday to go through the report of the establishment Secretary and to make statement as to whether the nine officers were qualified at the time of their appointment or if they were entitled to promotions.

Khawaja Haris had undertaken to examine the case of legality of appointments or promotions and to state if those were in conformity with the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the judgments reported as Contempt Proceedings against Chief Secretary, Sindh, Ali Azhar Khan Baloch versus Sindh, Ch. Muhammad Akram versus Registrar Islamabad High Court.