Daily Times

ISLAMABAD – National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has ordered completion of the inquiry of corruption cases within 10 months.

According to sources, the NAB chairman has issued directives to the staff of the anti-corruption watch-dog to speed up their operations and complete their investigations in fixed time without any fear.

The NAB headquarters have also issued directives that the operational process should be speed up in the cases, which have been in the final stage of the investigations. He also called the details of the corruption cases pending across the country.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had criticised the corruption watchdog on Tuesday and threatened to clip its powers over ‘harassment of government officers’. PM Nawaz had said that bureaucrats were afraid of taking decisions because they were fearful of NAB harassment.

NAB terrifies government officers and hinders them from performing their duties, while NAB officials enter the houses and offices of ‘innocent people’ without verifying the authenticity of the charges against them, PM Nawaz had said.

The prime minister’s views were also echoed by the leader of opposition Syed Khursheed Shah in a statement. Talking to media, he said that he had hoped that NAB would hold all people equally accountable, but many political parties had complained that unlike Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the bureau was doing nothing in Punjab.

Following the prime minister’s criticism, NAB spokesperson issued an official statement that vowed to improve the accountability process in line with the PM’s criticism and directives.