Daily Times

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has denied allegations made by Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani on Friday. The organization said that an investigation is under process against Ghani by NAB Karachi as per the law.

On Friday, Ghani had accused the NAB of protecting PTI MPA Haleem Adil Sheikh, saying that NAB was afraid Sheikh would be arrested by the Anti-Corruption Establishment hence it opened an inquiry against the PTI leader to stall his arrest.

“The NAB has already clarified that NAB Karachi Bureau was conducting an inquiry against Haleem Adil Sheikh after authorizing complaint verification,” the NAB press statement stated in response to Ghani’s allegation.

The NAB statement said a legal notice will be sent to Ghani for “misleading the public and trying to tarnish the image of NAB”.

Earlier, the anti-graft body had condemned Ghani’s attempts to influence the corruption cases under trial against Syed Khursheed Shah and Ejaz Jakhrani in the accountability court of Sukkur.

The NAB also condemned the education minister’s attempt to benefit the accused persons and decided to review the statement of Ghani in light of Clause 31 (a) of NAB Ordinance.

Ghani had been advised by NAB to “thoroughly pursue” the NAB Ordinance, which had already been reviewed in detail by the Supreme Court in the Asfandyar Wali case.

NAB said the inquiry against Sheikh is underway with the authorisation of complaint verification against him by the competent authority.

The NAB statement said that Ghani had yet again alleged NAB for transferring the case of Haleem Adil Sheikh from the Anti-Corruption Establishment Sindh to NAB Karachi, which was “totally baseless” and “misleading”.

“The factual position is that the case of Haleem Adil Sheikh was transferred from Anti-Corruption Sindh to Senior Member, Board of Revenue, Sindh on July 16, 2020, which is part of the record,” the statement read.