ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) senior vice-president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday urged the government to abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and hold its employees accountable.
Talking to reporters outside the Accountability Court, he said that no government official will work properly in the country until existence of anti-graft body. It is time to hold the chairman of NAB and its employees accountable who “have looted and tortured” people for years, he said. He said that the chairman NAB should tell the nation that how many politicians have been arrested under corruption charges and how much looted money the bureau recovered from them.
Khaqan accused that the chairman NAB was under the control of former prime minister Imran Khan. “One of the ministers sitting in the Prime Minister House used to issue orders to the NAB chairman regarding the arrest of opposition leaders”, he alleged, adding that the chairman NAB had become a silent spectator over the corruption of the previous government. The PML-N leader said that now the accountability of the NAB will be done.
“We are not taking revenge from anyone but what had been committed inside the NAB, these facts will be placed before the public”, he said, adding that the system for accountability exists in the country.
If anyone wants accountability of the corrupt to be done it was not a difficult task, he said. To a question, he said that the present government will complete its tenure and the PTI chairman Imran Khan will keep “roaming” on the street. What he (Imran Khan) has done with the country, the government will make efforts to improve the economic condition of the country, he said, adding that the fact about corruption committed during the previous government would be presented before the people. He said that we will not arrest anyone and it is a very easy task as today the NAB exists. The weak persons like the chairman NAB will be the first person to arrest people of Imran Khan, he said, adding that we do not want to indulge in such activities. Replying to another question, he said that the government would move courts for the installation of cameras inside the NAB courts, so that the people knows what is actually going on in these courts. When he was asked about absence of President Arif Alvi during oath taking ceremony of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he said that Alvi might be suffering from teeth pain due to which he did not attend the oath taking ceremony. He also congratulated people for getting rid of Naya Pakistan.
Earlier, he and other accused appeared before Accountability Court-II judge Muhammad Azam Khan in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case. The NAB prosecutor Usman Masood, witness Muhammad Ali and defence counsel Dr Yeser Aman Khan appeared before the court.
The court recorded the statement of prosecution witness Muhammad Ali, procurement manager Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL). The witness produced various documents before the court. The court after completing recording statement of witness adjourned hearing of the case till April 19.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022