SHC orders NAB chief to hold inquiry into fake call-up notice

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has directed Justice (Retd.) Javed Iqbal, chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), to hold an inquiry against the issuance of fake call-up notice to a citizen by the institution, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The high court heard the case pertaining to the issuance of a fake call-up notice to a citizen.

NAB Director General Sindh, who appeared in the hearing, asked by the SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh, “Are you witnesses what is going on here?”

Justice Shaikh expressed outrage and remarked, “It shows that NAB does not keep complete records [of its actions].”

“Shouldn’t we hold an inquiry into this matter by NAB chairman,” he said.

While censuring the NAB official, the judge questioned the performance of the institution despite the provision of chance every time to appear with full preparation. Justice Shaikh asked the official to visit court for reviewing the performance of officers.

“We don’t want damage reputation of any national institution,” the judge said.

NAB counsel argued, “NAB has investigated into this matter and it found that the notice was not issued by the anti-corruption watchdog. A telephone call was made from registrar office of an accountability court in Hyderabad after the issuance of call-up notice.”

The anti-graft watchdog also submitted its reply in the high court on April 12, the copy of which obtained by ARY News, stating that the record pertains to the fake call-up notice was suspectedly discarded.

The reply further stated that officials appeared 800 times in different appeals filed against the institution from October 2018 till April 2019. NAB has implemented few observations given by the judiciary and took all measures to satisfy the court, it added.

According to the NAB report, an investigation officer was not authorised to directed issue a call-up notice to the accused person. The report also stated that police was also probing into it.

The institution pleaded the high court to wrap up the petition.

Read More: Fake call-up notice: SHC summons D.G. NAB Karachi on April 16

On April 12, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had summoned director general National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Karachi on April 16, over a fake call-up notice allegedly issued to a citizen.

A two-judge bench headed by SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh rejected the report by the bureau’s investigation officer Gul Afridi who also appeared in the court hearing.

It was disclosed that the accused was called from the telephone of the Hyderabad registrar office after the call-up notice.

Expressing displeasure over the corruption watchdog, the chief justice questioned if someone within NAB was involved in the issuance of the notice.

He further asked why the bureau didn’t probe into the matter to fix the responsibility. “Who is serving NAB’s fake call-up notices on people?”

Apparently, some NAB insider is involved in serving the fake notice, Justice Sheikh observed.

The chief justice vowed not to let those issuing forged notices to go scot-free.