Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will have to make a rather tough choice by launching an investigation against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family to probe whether they broke Pakistani laws while setting up and running offshore companies.

Sources told Daily Times that NAB Chairman Chaudhry Qamar Zaman discussed the issue in detail with other senior officials before deciding to stay away from the controversy for the time being.

The NAB chairman did not respond to the queries sent to him. Other NAB officials also refused to comment on the issue given its sensitive nature and involvement of the family members of the sitting prime minister.

Soon after Panama Papers revealed that children of the prime minister owned offshore companies, which may have benefitted him as well, the NAB took the matter into consideration. The bureau’s Lahore office was directed to check if offshore companies of the Sharif family had any connection with the ongoing investigations in different corruption cases against them.

The bureau has been investigating 179 mega corruption scandals for years. Among others high-profile personalities, the prime minister and his brother Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif are facing the corruption allegations.

The Supreme Court had directed the NAB chairman to make public the list of those mega scandals. The honorable judges also wanted the NAB chairman to tell the people of Pakistan what progress had been made so far in those cases.

Apparently because of political pressure, the NAB did not upload the relevant information on its website, as directed by the apex court. The ruling family was furious when the NAB presented the list of mega corruption scandals before the Supreme Court. Several hawkish ministers pounced upon the NAB and even suggested some necessary legislation to check NAB’s action against the politicians. They also argued that old cases should have been closed down if authorities had failed to indict the accused. The case of mega corruption scandals is now pending before the apex court.

Sources said after the outburst of the ruling elite, the NAB chairman has been rather careful to make any move against them. He has asked the bureau to put on hold the inquiry into Panama leaks vis-à-vis Sharif family.

The argument given in favour of withholding the inquiry was that after the announcement of judicial commission (JC) by the prime minister, the bureau must wait to see what decision the honorable chief justice takes.

The federal government has already written a formal letter to the chief justice requesting him to form the commission. The government even drafted the terms of reference (ToRs) of the JC and broadened its mandate. Under the ToRs, the proposed commission would also investigate the people who had got their loans written-off by the banks. The opposition parties rejected the ToRs, saying the investigations of written-off loans would require years to conclude.

A few federal ministers opined that the JC could not change the ToRs. However, the prime minister told journalists on Saturday that the commission would be empowered to change the ToRs, if it deems necessary.

Sources said the NAB would not initiate any inquiry into Panama leaks before the formation of the JC. The senior NAB officials thought that their role would be to facilitate the JC, if asked.

It is pertinent to mention here that Chaudhry Qamar Zaman had been appointed as NAB chairman with mutual consent of the PPP and the PML-N in 2013, as required by the law.

The decision of appointing him as chairman was taken after both government and the opposition feared that then Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry might issue orders to appoint Dr Shoaib Suddle as chairman. Dr Suddle was eager to become the head of country’s top anti-corruption watchdog, but his efforts were frustrated by the two largest political parties.

The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf had already expressed strong reservations over the appointment of Chaudhry as NAB chairman. It had questioned the decision of giving him that sensitive office despite he was facing contempt of court proceedings. When appointed, Chaudhry was also facing allegations in notorious NICL corruption case.

Chaudhry Qamar Zaman is a retired major of Pak army. He once served as ADC to Gen Ziaul Haq.