ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Wednesday said that he would not be able to appear before a National Assembly committee since he has to deal with ‘prior commitments’.
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee for Law and Justice had directed the NAB chief to appear today and brief the panel over the watchdog’s probe into money laundering allegations against former PM Nawaz Sharif.
He also requested the committee to reschedule the summon, after which the NA panel directed Javed Iqbal to appear on May 22.
On the other hand, panel members PPP’s Naveed Qamar and Shagufta Jamani resigned from committee membership saying that the summon of NAB chief would “weaken the institution.”
“The parliament strengthens the institutions and not weakens them and the step to summon NAB chief is equivalent to interfering in the matters of NAB,” it was said.
NAB had initiated probe into money laundering allegations against Nawaz saying that the ex-PM had allegedly laundered Rs4.9 billion to India. The State Bank of Pakistan, however, rejected the claims and to this end, the NA committee was tasked to summon NAB chairman for a briefing.