ISLAMABAD: Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Shehzad Akbar on Wednesday said that Deputy Chairman of the Senate Saleem Mandviwalla cannot use his position for any kind of personal interests.

During a press conference, he said the opposition proposed 34 out of 38 amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance to hide corruption of its leadership committed in the past.

He said those amendments if incorporated would not only grant the opposition an NRO but would also make NAB practically dysfunctional.

He said every letter of the opposition’s draft on the NAB rules was equivalent to NRO as all those who made amendments were accused in cases of the anti-graft watchdog.

He claimed that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was formed after government refused to give relief to the opposition.

He said FATF had set goals to bring transparency in the financial system and the government sought cooperation from opposition for legislation but political opponents made the issue of national importance controversial.

He claimed that the PPP and PML-N asked for amendments in the NAB laws and they would support the FATF legislation only after the NAB amendments.

Shehzad Akbar said the opposition had tabled 34 amendments in the NAB rules, demanding that the NAB rules be implemented from 1999 onwards as they wanted to evade justice for their past looting and illegal activities.

Another proposal is to change the definition of Benamidars, giving free hand to make corruption in the name of wife and children.

He said the opposition also suggested that corruption cases of less than one billion rupees, willful default or writing off loan, and offence of money laundering should stay out of the NAB’s purview.

It was proposed to allow convicts to contest elections till final disposal of their cases and disqualification should be up to only five years, he added.

He said opposition desired to make redundant the international mutual legal assistance law and dealing it under law of evidence of Pakistan.

Talking about the Deputy Chairman Senate’s statement regarding exposing the NAB, he said Saleem Mandviwalla got the post for legislation and he could not use it for personal gain.

The PM’s aide further said the deputy chairman was threatening the institutions for personal interests and the government would not allow that, and the lawmakers would stand against him.

Senate Deputy Chairperson Saleem Mandviwalla claimed on Wednesday that Pakistan’s anti-graft watchdog was engaged in human rights violations, criticising the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for “killing people and dropping off their bodies at hospitals”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020