HAIDER
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- May 21, 2006
- Messages
- 33,771
- Reaction score
- 14
- Country
- Location
PAC asks NAB to declare assets of its officials, family members
Kashif Abbasi Published June 8, 2022 - Updated about 3 hours ago0
ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to declare assets of its officials and their family members.
A meeting of the PAC, held here with MNA Noor Alam Khan in the chair, also sought record of salaries, official cars and other perks and privileges the NAB officials get and ordered audit of the money recovered and disposed of among the people by the anti-corruption watchdog.
The PAC chairman said NAB should send the same questionnaire to its officials, which it used to send to other accused and their family members as well for getting details of their assets and income.
However, NAB acting chairman Zahir Shah told the PAC that under the law, the bureau could not send the questionnaire to anyone until he was declared an accused and, in order to send the questionnaire to NAB officials, the bureau would have to declare all its officials as accused.
During the meeting, PPP senator Saleem Mandviwalla said that according to NAB’s claim, it had recovered Rs820 billion, but the record of the finance ministry showed that only Rs15bn had been deposited in the national exchequer. The NAB acting chairman said there was only one account of the bureau for keeping the recovered money and the auditor general could order its audit whenever he wanted.
When PTI Senator Shibli Faraz asked if NAB could operate independently after the new legislation, Zahir Shah said the anti-corruption watchdog followed law and it could not raise questions about legislation.
Later, talking to the media, PAC chairman Noor Alam Khan said all government officials, public office holders, politicians, ministers, the prime minister and the president were bound to declare their and their family members’ assets. He said NAB officials should follow rules and declare their assets voluntarily.
Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2022