LAHORE: Citing past affiliation of the former judge of Supreme Court Azmat Saeed Sheikh with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has rejected his appointment as head of the Broadsheet Inquiry Committee and labelled it “conflict of interest.”

“Handing over investigation to those who should [themselves] be investigated is the murder of justice; Imran Khan, have courage to tell the nation you need a NRO,” said PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb in a Tweet.

Terming the appointment of the former judge as a “big fraud” and “controversial,” she said: “Azmat Saaed Sheikh had served as deputy prosecutor general of NAB during the original signing of the Broadsheet agreement and was one of the negotiators in the deal along with being a senior legal officer at the time. He (Azmat Sheikh) also served as a member of the board of governors of the Shaukat Khanum Hospital and this showed PM Imran’s ill-intent behind handing over the Broadsheet inquiry to him.”

“How can the investigation conducted by the former deputy prosecutor general be transparent and fair?” she questioned.

She further alleged that as deputy prosecutor general, Sheikh had also been tasked with making cases against PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif during Pervez Musharraf’s era. Therefore, she said, “no one should be a judge in his own case or in the case of those with whom he has a relationship or conflict [of interest]. The nation wants accountability for those who loot and squander their earnings; sprinkling salt on the wounds is not a joke.”

It may be noted that Azmat Saeed was appointed as the head of the Inquiry Committee to probe the issue of UK-based asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC. The federal cabinet in its meeting on January 19 had decided to form a new inquiry committee on the recommendation of an inter-ministerial committee that had earlier been constituted by the prime minister to look into the Broadsheet saga.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021