The head of the country’s top anti-graft watchdog on Wednesday denied suggestions that he or his investigators were being pressured into certain cases.
This was clearly stated by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Aftab Sultan while appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the National Assembly on Wednesday. The committee was headed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Noor Alam Khan.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Noor raised several questions about the delay in NAB’s investigation and stalling of important investigations.
As an example, he pointed to reports of alleged massive misappropriation in the construction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Peshawar project in which the provincial government paid cash to contractors. He further pointed to the Billion Tree Tsunami Project, PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s use of government helicopters in political rallies, Khyber Bank scandal, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) programs for further investigation by NAB. I am pending.
He asked the NAB chief that there seems to be a delay in the investigation of such cases.
The PAC chairman made it clear that he does not believe in political vendetta but cases should be dealt with accordingly and NAB should speed up its investigations against corruption cases across the country.
Sultan assured the committee that mega corruption cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be fully investigated.
He also denied that NAB is under any pressure during the investigation of mega corruption cases.
After the hearing, Sultan refused to answer questions from the media.
He briefly said that the BRT case and the Malam Jabba case were pending long before he came to the bureau but now their investigation has been started.
Talking to the media, he said that we will try our best to complete the investigation of these cases in six months.
On the helicopter misuse case, he said that NAB has directed the KP government to return the money spent.
He also assured that when NAB submits the cases to the court, it will be after a thorough and transparent investigation.
He reiterated that NAB is not facing any pressure in investment cases in KP.
He assured that no one will raise any question on the performance of NAB.
