NAB summons PDM chief’s son-in-law in corruption case
Confrontation feared as anti-corruption body issues notice to Ali asking him to appear before NAB in Peshawar regarding ongoing inquiry into his alleged illegal assets
The confrontation of Pakistan Democratic Movement ( PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman with the government would intensify ater the National Accountability Bureau ( NAB) has summoned his son-in-law Fayaz Ali on Jan.28 as part of an ongoing inquiry into his alleged illegal assets.
The NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) issued a “call-up notice” to Ali, who is also the son of Jamiat Ulemae Islam-fazl (JUI-F) central leader Haji Ghulam Ali, asking him to appear before a combined investigation team (CIT) at the NAB regional office in Peshawar to record his statement about assets.
The NAB warned that if Ali failed to comply with the notice, penal action would be taken against him under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999.
The notice said the competent authority had taken cognisance of an offence commited by Fazlur Rehman and others under the provisions of the NAO.
According to it, there is an inquiry against Fazlur Rehman regarding corruption and corrupt practices and accumulation of assets beyond known sources of income.
Haji Ghulam Ali, a former senator, told reporters that his son hadn’t received any NAB notice. He said in 2001, he was also arrested and charged in a fake case by the NAB but the court acquited him.
The PDM leader said several of his family members were also named in corruption cases but they, too, were acquited.
The NAB also summoned Fazlur Rehman’s brother Ziaur Rehman, an officer of the KP government, regarding an ongoing inquiry into his alleged illegal absorption in the KP Provincial Management Service (PMS) cadre over a decade ago.
A call-up notice was issued to him asking him to appear before the investigation team on Jan.26.
The NAB also summoned in the same inquiry a former chief secretary, Sahibzada Riaz Noor, former secretary ( establishment) Sahib Jan and former secretary to the provincial governor Ahmad Hanif Orakzai. They have been asked to appear before the investigation team on Jan. 27 and 28.
The NAB claims to have learned in an ongoing inquiry that Ziaur Rehman, a former commissioner of the Afghan Commissionerate, was illegally absorbed or inducted in PMS cadre in 2007 against the prescribed rules during the then Mutahida Majlis-i-amal (MMA) government led by Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani.
The NAB is already looking into different issues related to Ziaur Rehman, including his assets.
An official said under the established rules, appointment to the PMS cadre could only be done ater one passed the provincial competitive examination.
In 2007, the then provincial governor, retired Lt-gen Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, had sanctioned a summary forwarded to him by the then chief minister, Akram Durrani, requesting the inclusion of Rehman into the provincial civil service as a section officer under Section 23 of the KP Civil Servant Act, 1973.
Absorption of Rehman, a former employee of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, had raised many eyebrows as the inclusion of a federal government employee in the provincial civil service was not possible following the introduction of the Provincial Management Service Rules, 2007, which had abolished the then secretariat and executive groups of the provincial civil service.
Meanwhile, Railways Minister Azam Khan Swati has maintained that only Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker have the authority to summon the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau for inquiry on any allegation according to the rules.
Addressing a news conference at Pakistan Railways Headquarters in Lahore on Saturday, he said taht the parliament’s standing committee has no right to call any officer. To a question about the summon orders for the NAB chairman by the National Assembly Standing Commitee, Swati said the commitee had no right to call any officer, adding that the standing committee could only request the Senate chairman or National Assembly speaker to summon any officer in the commitee.