By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday, during a hearing of contempt petition against the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) chief, said every public office holder, including the anti-graft watchdog, is answerable to the public.
A two-member bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the petition against the NAB chairman over his failure to take action against former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in assets beyond known sources of income case.
During today’s proceedings, the bureau filed a response to the corruption inquiry against Musharraf in the court, in which it stated that it has obtained records of all the accounts and assets of the former president and his family. These include two properties abroad and two foreign accounts. The NAB stated that it has submitted documents and written to MLAs abroad for further details of the overseas properties and accounts, and is awaiting a response.
In its reply, NAB further maintained that in the light of court orders, an inquiry was initiated against Musharraf in March 2018. The former president was included in the investigation and interrogated accordingly, therefore, the NAB chairman has not committed any contempt of court.
“The contempt of court petition against him [NAB chief] should be rejected with damages. Intelligence has been requested from the Financial Monitoring Unit regarding the suspicious assets of Pervez Musharraf and reports of suspicious transactions have also been sought,” the report added.
In his remarks, Chief Justice Athar Minallah said that the NAB has a responsibility to dispel the impression that only elected representatives are held accountable and as a public office holder, Musharraf’s case was a test for the bureau.
“The NAB is responsible to restore people’s confidence in it,” Justice Minallah said.
The IHC CJ also inquired about the timeline within which Musharraf’s case would be completed.
The NAB prosecutor, Jahanzeb Bharwana, informed the court that the report would be submitted within a month as an inquiry – looking into a total of 29 properties belonging to Musharraf – was underway.
“If the case was pertaining to a politician, a joint investigation team would have been formed by now,” said the petitioner’s counsel, claiming that the NAB prosecutor’s reply is an acceptance of delay from their end.
To this, the chief justice remarked that the court will not interfere with NAB’s investigation. “Pervez Musharraf is not a general but a politician. We will not allow political speech here [in court],” he said.
Justice Minallah maintained that every public office holder is answerable to the people, including the NAB, emphasising that it is the duty of the bureau to ensure that all individuals are equal in the eyes of the law.
Subsequently, the court directed NAB to complete the inquiry within a month.
Talking to the media after the hearing, Bharwana said that the proceedings against Pervez Musharraf have been undertaken.
Replying to a query if the inquiry over Musharraf’s assets would be completed within a month, the NAB prosecutor said that “we have only told the court about MLAs replies being sought within a month not about completing the inquiry.”
“The MLAs have been reminded three times already and hopefully the reply will come within a month,” he added.
