Director Operations National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Zahir Shah has said that the former finance secretary Balochistan Mushtaq Raisani surrendered two properties in Karachi’s Defence area, along with two cars and over Rs. 653.2 million. All 11 of these properties are in DHA and are valued at a purchase price of Rs1.25bn. They include two commercial plazas, three houses of minimum 500 sq yards each and six residential plots. Giving a breakdown of the cash and properties seized by NAB as part of the plea bargain deal, Zahir Shah said that in the Mushtaq Raisani corruption case 11 properties had been revealed. Raisani has also surrendered two luxury cars including a Mercedes Benz and a Toyota Grande both of which are worth nearly Rs8m, Shah said. The National Accountability Bureau had decided to accept the plea bargain request of Mushtaq Ahmad Raisani, Balochistan’s former finance secretary as well as Sohail Majeed Shah, the contractor and frontman of Khalid Langove, the former adviser to chief minister Balochistan for finance. On May 6, NAB recovered more than Rs730 million from Raisani’s residence in Quetta. According to a repot he was accused of embezzling billions of rupees from local government development funds. Following Raisani’s arrest and the recovery of embezzled money, the provincial finance adviser Langove also immediately offered his resignation from the post.The Supreme Court on Oct 24 restrained NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry from approving deals for voluntary return, a provision under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, that allowed people found guilty of corruption to pay a certain portion of the embezzled money and be released without any stigma.The option of accepting a plea bargain, however, remains on the cards.It is not the first time that the NAB will be setting free a corrupt person but in fact its record is full of such instances. The provincial finance secretary was also found to own as many as dozen houses in Karachi whose estimated cost was reported to be around Rs 2b. With the suspect caught red handed in possession of illegal money and owning property behind his known sources of income, it was undoubtedly an open-and-shut case ending with his conviction. However, the NAB, whose main and sole responsibility is to bring corrupt elements to book, has once again provided clean chit to the fraudulent, which will only contribute to bolstering the menace of corruption. The Supreme Court had issued restraining order for accepting plea bargain but NAB has ignored restraining orders. The Supreme Court should take notice and seek explanation from the NAB. It is high time that government and all political parties should work to improve the NAB and its law must be amended to remove the plea bargain options. It causes increase in corruption and gives cover to dishonest elements. Strict laws should be made to bring such elements to justice. Parliament should take serious steps to reform this anti-corruption watchdog to eliminate menace of corruption from the country because without elimination this menace the country can’t get progress and prosperity.
Trending
- Peaceful protests hold across AJK against worst rigging in by-elections
- Parliamentary party under the chairmanship of PM AJK holds a meeting
- All political parties and the opposition condemn fake and bogus cases against journalists in AJK
- Inflation in Pakistan
- “The world – A war zone”
- Political Meltdown in Pakistan And Way Forward
- ‘‘Hate speech’’ Modi might be disqualified
- Amanullah Khan: Remembering the Gilgit Rebel