Islamabad, May 10 (TNS): Responding criticism over allegations of money laundering against Nawaz Sharif, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Thursday said notices sent by the bureau aren’t personal notices or invitations sent by the chairman but are laws followed by the institution.
“Politicians and bureaucrats don’t need to take offence when summoned by NAB,” he added. “Your respect is intact even when we send notices, the bureaucracy has never behaved outside the law and the Constitution.”
He further added that accountability is for the country’s progression. “NAB doesn’t play politics of hatred, it is doing everything in its powers for the country. Accountability is not a crime, if it is, then we are doing it for the country’s progress.
The comments come minutes after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif sought an apology and demanded resignation from the NAB chairman if the anti-graft body fails to prove money laundering allegations against him.
Addressing a press conference at the Punjab House in Islamabad, The former premier gave a 24-hour deadline to NAB to provide evidence. Nawaz said NAB had lost its credibility. “NAB’s vindictive approach is weakening democracy,” claimed Nawaz.
Referring to a notice taken by Iqbal on a two-year old World Bank report doing the rounds that laundered $4.9 billion to India, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid remarked that the report was being distorted to frame charges against him.
“References against me in NAB are related to baseless media report,” Nawaz said clarifying his stance adding that his media trial had become NAB’s sole mission. He pointed out that the NAB claims were shot down by the Washington-based multilateral agency on the same day as its local office denied that allegations were levelled against the PML-N leader in its remittance report.
The chairman further said that the bureau’s loyalties lie with the country. “We investigate separating ourselves from bias,” he further added. Iqbal also said that the country is drowning in debt worth 84 billion dollars, but the result of this debt never came forth.
“The bureaucracy serves Pakistan, not the running governments,” he commented. “NAB doesn’t need to advertise every step it takes in its process,” Iqbal said adding that others need not indulge in misunderstandings of any sort.
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