Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued orders to remove National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President Arif Usmani and the bank’s Chairman Board of Directors (BoD) Zubyr Soomro.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani announced the verdict on Tuesday, which had been reserved by the High Court on June 2. The verdict called on authorities to remove with immediate effect Usmani and Soomro from their posts.

A petition filed by citizens Syed Jahangir, Javed Iqbal, Fazal Raheem and Latif Qureshi contended that the NBP president’s appointment was contrary to the guidelines of the Public Sector (Appointment of Chief Executive) Guidelines 2015.

The petitioners had argued that Usmani, during his stint as the managing director of Citibank Nigeria, was charged with money laundering. The petitioners had argued that it made him ineligible for the post of chief executive officer of the NBP for life.

Usmani’s counsel had informed the high court during a previous hearing that the NBP had earned impressive profits during his client’s tenure as the bank’s president.

The NBP president has a physics degree, at which the petitioners also took an objection to.

The court remarked that if a degree has no connection with a field then a judge could also be appointed as a bank head.

Soomro’s lawyer, on the other hand, had argued that the petition had been filed on the basis of malafied intentions, adding that the petitioners were not affected by appointments.