ISLAMABAD(National Times)-The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday urged the government to withdraw a restriction that prevents it from taking action against government officials accused of corruption involving less than Rs500 million.
“Untie our hands and withdraw the Rs500m restriction; otherwise, people [government officials] will become addicted to committing corruption,” NAB Chairman retired Lt Gen Nazir Ahmed said during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice.
Under the amended NAB law, the anti-graft watchdog cannot take up cases involving amounts below Rs500m. As a result, a large number of cases it had been pursuing were transferred to other departments, such as the Federal Investigation Agency.
Mr Ahmed said that because of the restriction, a station house officer (SHO) of the police enjoyed more powers than a NAB investigation officer.
A NAB prosecutor general read out the amended law governing the anti-graft body, saying the bureau could not take action against members of the federal or provincial cabinets or their committees.
At this, committee chairman Senator Farooq Naek said that although NAB could not act against cabinet decisions or those of its committees, it could proceed against individuals who violated those decisions or engaged in corrupt practices.
He said NAB had been established to investigate mega corruption cases, such as the Rs1.20 trillion Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project, on which Rs513bn had been spent. It had now emerged, he said, that the design prepared by the National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak) was faulty.
“It is a joke played on the people of Pakistan. We all know that corruption was committed during the construction of roads,” he added.
JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza, also a member of the committee, said the Rs500m threshold should also be withdrawn in cases involving politicians.
The NAB chairman said the media usually highlighted cases involving politicians more vigorously than other corruption cases.
However, he said politicians accounted for six per cent of the country’s overall corruption, while government officials were responsible for 11pc.
‘Private sector’
“We are always asked to pursue cases against politicians. However, the private sector, including the sugar mafia, accounts for more than 45pc of the country’s total corruption,” he added.
The committee chairman asked why NAB did not take action against officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the police. Mr Ahmed replied that the FBR did not fall within NAB’s jurisdiction.
Senator Abdul Qadir urged NAB to investigate the petroleum sector, where wells had been drilled for oil and gas exploration over the past 20 years without any production.
“If NAB takes action on this, millions of people could benefit from cheaper oil and gas,” he added.
The committee also received a detailed briefing from NAB, during which its chairman claimed the bureau had recovered assets worth $64bn, including state and private land.
