Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah have begun consultations to fill the position of Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with as many as 11 potential candidates, however, Dr Shoaib Suddle and Ishtiaq Ahmad are considered the hot favourites for the position.
Suddle is a former Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officer and has served in many prestigious positions including Inspector General of Police-Sindh and Director General Intelligence Bureau (IB). He is considered close to senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership and President Asif Ali Zardari appointed him as Federal Tax Ombudsman on June 3, 2009 on a four-year term. His name has been proposed for the position by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Sources told Business Recorder that the property tycoon Malik Riaz has also been lobbying for Shoaib Suddle for his role in the one-man commission investigating Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry, the son of the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who acknowledged to the commission that he was the recipient of foreign tours that were fully funded by Malik Riaz.
The Supreme Court later dissolved the commission after it submitted a preliminary report to the court. The sources said the PPP and PTI have already agreed on Suddle while the PML-N senior leadership is still evaluating his name for the slot. The other top contender for the position is former secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Ishtiaq Ahmad.
According to sources, Ishtiaq Ahmad is acceptable to both the PML-N and PPP leadership while his name has been proposed by Jamaat-e-Islami for the slot. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani appointed Ahmad as secretary ECP on September 4, 2009. The other candidates for the slot include: former Justice Falak Sher, former chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Arbab Shehzad proposed by the PTI, former Justice Mehmoodul Hassan Rizvi and former Justice Ghaus Muhammad proposed by the MQM-P.
The prime minister has proposed DG Intelligence Bureau Aftab Sultan, former Justice Rehmat Jaffery and former Justice IJaz Chaudhry while the opposition leader Khursheed Shah's proposed names for the slot are: former Justice Faqeer Muhammad Khokhar, former Justice Javed Iqbal and former ECP secretary Ishtiaq Ahmad.
The sources said that DG IB Aftab Sultan was a contender for the slot, but recent controversies including his meeting with the disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in London and reported surveillance of 37 parliamentarians for their links with proscribed outfits have reduced his chances.
Sultan was the Inspector General of Punjab Police during the caretaker government in 2013 and earlier he served as DG IB in 2011 during the PPP government. The sources said that he has a fair chance to be appointed as Chairman NAB as he is thought to be close to both the PPP and PML-N.
Talking to Business Recorder, former president Supreme Court Bar Association Kamran Murtaza pointed out that the Supreme Court has nominated a monitoring judge to oversee adjudication of the Accountability Court in the references filed against the Sharif family and Ishaq Dar and hence Chairman NAB would be bound to follow the monitoring judge's directions.
Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, did not concur with Kamran Murtaza, saying the chairman NAB can influence the pace of the court proceedings against the Sharifs by using delaying tactics and weakening the prosecution in the case. "If the chairman NAB does not pursue the graft cases in the court on merit, this will definitely benefit the accused," he said, adding that it is as clear as day that both the PML-N and PPP would appoint a man of their choice to slow down the pace of the corruption cases under investigation against them.