ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Wednesday took strong exception to a statement by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which accused former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of sending 4.9 billion US dollars to India through money laundering and called for a special committee of the parliament to investigate the matter.
“The NAB chairman or his staff need to be summoned by the parliament and asked how they got this information, what are their sources, what record do they have about the allegation?” he said on a point of order in the National Assembly.
The prime minister read out the press release of the NAB, available on its website also, and termed it a very serious allegation. He said it had brought bad name to the country as the NAB chairman has accused the three-time elected prime minister of the country for being involved in laundering money to India.
The prime minister said he felt very concerned as he along with Leader of Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah had approved the name of Justice (r) Javed Iqbal to head the accountability bureau. “This is a very serious issue and and a special committee of the parliament needs to be constituted under the Rule 244 to investigate the matter and bring the facts before the nation,” he said.
Speaking about the ongoing cases of NAB against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister said he failed to see that all requirements of justice were being met. He said it was important that not only justice must be done, it must also be seen to be done.
He said an amendment in the NAB laws was pending for quite some time, adding that now his government was planning to go ahead with it to ensure that there is a check on NAB as well.
According to a NAB statement, the chairman of the bureau took notice of media report which made the claims citing a World Bank report. However, World Bank clarified that it’s Remittances and Migration Report does not mention money laundering or name individuals. Responding to PM’s statement, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Asad Umar remarked, “We don’t know if NAB allegations are true or not but they stemmed from a report prepared by the World Bank.” He said that the bureau is doing the work of the finance minister in the country. “If we start investigating institutions based on misuse of power then it will result in justice being murdered,” he remarked. “Power cannot be misused to manipulate the truth. Therefore, this [parliamentary] committee should not be formed,” he added.
Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir, speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, questioned NAB’s actions and said that it’s clear they were targeting Nawaz. He demanded a probe against NAB’s internal workings and processes of determining investigations such as this one.
The minister said that there was no mention of the ousted premier or money laundering in the World Bank report, and that has been clarified by the bank’s officials as well. “It’s not Nawaz’s trial, but the people’s right to rule is being questioned,” he stormed, adding that democracy is under siege. He added that the PML-N strongly condemns such arbitrary actions against their leader.
Dastgir, referring to the earlier petition which led to Nawaz’s disqualification, said that a frivolous petition was accepted which led to the ousting of a sitting prime minister. He maintained that they respected the courts and its orders but the right to criticise cannot be compromised upon.
Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the NAB probe against Nawaz Sharif should be investigated to determine who is behind the move.
NAB summons Shehbaz in Saaf Pani Company case —A5
Published in Daily Times, May 10th 2018.
