Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has resolved to reopen inquiries against all those corrupt elements who took refuge at Federal Ombudsman office. A reliable source confided to Daily Times on Wednesday that Chairman NAB, Chaudhry Qamar Zaman taking cognizance of the media report and has directed Director General NAB Rawalpindi to accelerate the pace of investigation into corruption charges against senior hierarchy of federal ombudsman and to submit a compliance report in this regard within stipulated times .

It has been transpired that some retired senior officers whose corruption inquiries are yet to be finalised by NAB have been reappointed in federal ombudsman office on huge salary packages. Federal ombudsman is a constitutional institution of the country whose basic responsibility is to resolve the grievance of public against the government department and servants, but it was a matter of concern that dozens of retired officers have been inducted in the ombudsman secretariat, allegedly breaching rules and regulations and constitutional limits, a document reveals.

According to media reports former chairman CDA Imtiaz Anyat Elahi, former Chairman OGRA Saeed Ahmed Khan and former federal information secretary Azmat Taimor and some other retired officers have been inducted in the Ombudsman secretariat without observing laws and these retired officers services were hired in order to resolve public grievances against government departments. A senior NAB officer confided to this scribe that corruption inquiries against former chairman CDA Imtiaz Anyat Elahi are pending with NAB and the Rawalpinidi Directorate has been investigating against him for the last many months.

He furthered divulged that financial irregularities worth of billion of rupees were committed in CDA when Elahi was its chairman as he had favoured his cronies and others powerful politicians. The NAB source revealed that NAB was looking into the role of Elahi’s in the corruption scam of CDA where billions of rupees of the national kitty were embezzled and CDA assets were doled out among the cronies of then political ruling gangs.

He said Supreme Court had also directed NAB to start investigation against former chairman OGRA Saeed Ahmen Khan on the Advocate Farrukh Dal petition and NAB is likely to finalise the probe within the next few weeks.

The source revealed that criminal inquiries pending against former Information Secretary Azmat Taimor would also be given final touches and the inquiry would be completed with the time frame given by the NAB chairman.

A senior Supreme Court lawyer Chaudhry Ikram said that no one is above the law and federal ombudsman could be tried under certain laws if he found guilty of any wrong doing.

A senior NAB officer said that ombudsman office would be purged from corrupt people who had allegedly misused their official position and had caused huge financial loss to the national exchequer. NAB has already declared a close relative of sitting ombudsman Suleman Farooqi disqualified from holding public office. This has reportedly enraged the ombudsman and he summoned Chairman NAB for explanation.