ISLAMABAD (APP) – The National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB ) has decided to file a corruption reference against former Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani and others for allegedly illegally awarding advertisement campaign contracts to Ms Midas (Pvt) Limited.
The decision to initiate probe was taken during the executive board meeting (EBM) on Wednesday. The other accused in the case are former secretary Information Technology Farooq Awan, former Principal Information Officer (PIO) Muhammad Saleem and others who allegedly abused their powers in awarding contract to the private company in contrary to Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules. The illegal contract caused a loss of Rs128.07 million to national exchequer.
The EBM also authorised conducting four different types of investigations against Awais Muzaffar Tappi – a close aide of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, former Provincial Minister, Sindh Local Government, Raja Muhammad Abbas, former Chief Secretary Sindh, Ghulam Mustafa Phal, former Secretary Land Utilisation, Sindh, Ghulam Abbas Soomro, ex-Secretary Land Utilisation, Sindh and others for illegally allotting hundreds of acres Malir River Authority’s land, inflicting Rs 33,000 million losses to national kitty.
The Executive Board authorised conducting inquiry against the officers/officials of Lahore Development Authority, management of Nespak and others. They have been accused of abusing authority and corruption in Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project, thus causing almost Rs 4 billion losses to national kitty.
The EBM authorised filing yet another corruption reference against former Director General Sindh Building Control Authority, Karachi, Manzoor Qadir Kaka and others as they have been accused of inflicting almost Rs 3 billion losses through corrupt practices, tempering with official documents and alleged abuse of authority.
The NAB also approved several other references in the key meeting, headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, chief of the anti-graft buster agency.
Justice Javed said that NAB not only considers the elimination of corruption as its national responsibility but also they (NAB officers) are making sincere efforts to make Pakistan corruption free. He directed to conclude the verification of complaints, inquiries, investigations within stipulate time frame that too in light of relevant law and on the basis of concrete evidence.
He said NAB was strictly pursuing the policy of “Accountability for All.” The first and last affiliation of NAB is with Pakistan and its people.
NAB wanted to clear that all inquiries, investigations and references are filed against the accused on their alleged involvement in corruption cases inflicting multi billion rupee losses to the National Exchequer. Such investigations must not be considered as final. NAB would proceed ahead only after giving the accused ample opportunities to prove their innocence.
