Chairman NAB orders speedy completion of corruption inquiries

According to sources, Chairman NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has issued directives to the staff of the anti-corruption watch-dog to speed up their operations and complete their investigations in fixed time without any fear.

The NAB headquarters have also issued directives that the operational process should be speed up in the cases, which have been in the final stage of the investigations.

Chairman NAB has also called the details of the corruption cases pending across the country.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had criticized the corruption watchdog on Tuesday and threatened to clip its powers over “harassment of government officers”. He had said that bureaucrats were afraid of taking decisions because they were fearful of NAB harassment.

NAB terrifies government officers and hinders them from performing their duties, while NAB officials enter the houses and offices of ‘innocent people’ without verifying the authenticity of the charges against them, he had said.

The prime minister’s views were also echoed by the leader of opposition Syed Khursheed Shah in a statement. Talking to media he said that he had hoped that NAB would hold all people equally accountable, but many political parties had complained that unlike Sindh, Khyber Pakhtun­khwa and Balochistan, the bureau was doing nothing in Punjab, which was run by the ruling PML-N.

Following the prime minister’s criticism A spokesperson of NAB issued an official statement that vowed to improve the accountability process in line with the PM’s criticism and directives.