Govt plans to appoint ex-bureaucrat as NAB chairman

ISLAMABAD: Federal government has planned to appoint a former bureaucrat as chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) rather than appointing a judge for the slot, ARY NEWS reported.

Sources privy to the discussions on the matter said that a meeting took place between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Opposition Leader Raja Riaz to consult over the matter.

“The two mulled over the names for the chairman NAB and initially discussed three names for the slot,” they said and added that the names discussed included former bureaucrat Fawad Hassan Fawad, ex-chairman NAB Qamar uz Zaman and former DG FIA Bashir Memon.

The two, according to sources, agreed to consult over the names with their allies.

While confirming discussions on the names for chairman NAB, Raja Riaz said that they would finalize a name for the slot by June 02. “We have not yet finalized the names, however, all of them are respected people,” he said following meeting with PM Shehbaz Sharif.

Yesterday, in a bid to curtail the powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the National Assembly approved amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

The bill was tabled by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar who said that multiple amendments were made in the accountability Ordinance to clip the powers exercised by the accountability bureau.

Sharing details of the key amendments, he said that after fresh amendments, no arrests could be made before completion of the investigation process, and the suspect will have the right to obtain bail while 90-day remand is also abolished.

“The previous government made many amendments through the passage of the ordinance and only to extend the tenure of the incumbent chairman NAB,” he said.