No, its more like because Zardari used his influence as the President and told the NAB not to pursue any corruption cases aganist Nawaz Sharif. As Rehman Malik threatened to open cases against him.
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Interview: 'Zardari stopped NAB from proceeding against Sharifs' by Shahzad Raza
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President Asif Ali Zardari had asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) not to pursue any old or new corruption cases against the Sharif brothers, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman told The Friday Times in an interview.
"Go ahead and do whatever you have to do in line with rules and regulations," NAB Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bukhari quoted the president as saying. "But you must not pursue cases against Sharif brothers. I have suffered, and I know what it feels like."
NAB has a history of hounding political leaders at the behest of the ruling party. Under its first chairman Saifur Rehman, the defunct Ehtesab Bureau earned notoriety for victimising the opponents of the ruling PML-N. Rehman was allegedly running the government's vendetta machinery until the military takeover of October 1999.
"I am not here to please the Supreme Court, the government or any other state institution"
Forsaking the conspiracy-driven politics of the 1990s, leaders of the PPP and the PML-N signed a Charter of Democracy (CoD) in May 2006. The two parties consolidated their commitment to fair politics in the Bhurban Declaration signed in March 2008.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has claimed credit for not harassing political rivals, but the appointments he made to the post of the NAB chairman were controversial.
Mr Bukhari was wearing a burgundy necktie and looked relaxed. He is heading one of the most controversial institutions in Pakistan. Among those unhappy with him is the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
"I am not here to please the Supreme Court, the government or any other state institution. I am not here for self-projection. I only prefer to serve under the mandate I am given," he said.
He denied President Zardari or Prime Minister Gilani exerted pressure on him or used their influence to get undue favours. He claimed he had never spoken to either President Zardari or Prime Minister Gilani before taking over NAB.
Admiral (r) Bukhari was recently criticised for his statement about presidential immunity. NAB is a party in the Swiss graft cases against President Zardari. The question of presidential immunity is pending before the Supreme Court, and Prime Minister Gilani has defied the court's order to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen the cases.
"There's no controversy in the question of presidential immunity. The president enjoys immunity under the Constitution and that has also been recognized by the Supreme Court in the judgments. I just expressed my opinion on the matter," he said.
He said both Nawaz Sharif and Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf went after Asif Ali Zardari for 16 years, but they were unable to bring back the money presumably laying in some Swiss bank account.
The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had better chances of deciding the case during the Musharraf regime, he added.
"It would have been better to proceed against the man (Zardari), who then had no (presidential) immunity. The chief justice could have taken a suo moto notice."
Admiral (r) Bukhari joined the Navy in 1959 and was a hero of 1971 war. He was elevated to the office of Chief of Naval Staff in 1997, and resigned in October 1999. According to reports, he had resigned in protest after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif refused to appoint him Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Instead, the prime minister had appointed General Pervez Musharraf as CJCSC who was junior to Admiral Bukhari.
He recalled how he had kicked Gen Musharraf out of his house when the latter requested him to back him after the military intervention of October 1999.
He said Gen Musharraf had violated the sanctity of the Constitution and his service oath that he would not take part in politics. Many of the judges of superior judiciary had also taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), he added.
To a question, he said he was trying to address the bureau's credibility crisis. "In the past, governments used accountability as a tool against their political opponents. The NAB earned a bad name. Enforcement as a tool won't work. You could go around catching big and little fish for another 1000 years, but the flow of corruption won't stop."
Admiral (r) Bukhari said the independence of judiciary was one of the prerequisites to safeguarding public money. He said it could take years of hard work to formulate and implement the regulatory frameworks to protect the illegal drainage of money from the national exchequer. "We need good people to make policies. It's a battle to get the right people with correct political will who can make policies to safeguard our money," he said. "And it requires independence of judiciary and supremacy of Parliament."
He dispelled the impression that a society could be cleansed of corruption altogether, but argued the level of corruption could be reduced to the extent that the big fish do not operate freely.
Under Admiral (r) Bukhari the NAB equally implements the policies of enforcement and prevention.
Of a pending accountability bill before a parliamentary committee, he said NAB had given its input already. NAB had asked the government to provide it greater independence so it could evade pressure of becoming a political victimisation machine. "The NAB law is a fine ordinance. It provides adequate powers, procedures and jurisdiction. The only thing we seek is greater independence," he said. "Currently, we are under the law ministry, but we would like to be an autonomous institution."
He revealed that NAB had been working at 28 percent of its total strength that alone was the biggest handicap. Recently, the government has allowed NAB to enhance its manpower. In the first phase, 317 grade-17 officers would be inducted to clear the backlog and pursue new cases. The prime focus, he said, was to bring the money back. He did not comment on the slow speed of the legal process, but said his institution allowed the accused to return money at various legal stages.
Asked to comment on the reports of receiving an expensive piece of land in Islamabad, he said it was his right. "I don't have the plot right now. I asked for the entitlement six month back, but haven't got it so far."
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Interview: 'Zardari stopped NAB from proceeding against Sharifs' by Shahzad Raza
--
President Asif Ali Zardari had asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) not to pursue any old or new corruption cases against the Sharif brothers, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman told The Friday Times in an interview.
"Go ahead and do whatever you have to do in line with rules and regulations," NAB Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bukhari quoted the president as saying. "But you must not pursue cases against Sharif brothers. I have suffered, and I know what it feels like."
NAB has a history of hounding political leaders at the behest of the ruling party. Under its first chairman Saifur Rehman, the defunct Ehtesab Bureau earned notoriety for victimising the opponents of the ruling PML-N. Rehman was allegedly running the government's vendetta machinery until the military takeover of October 1999.
"I am not here to please the Supreme Court, the government or any other state institution"
Forsaking the conspiracy-driven politics of the 1990s, leaders of the PPP and the PML-N signed a Charter of Democracy (CoD) in May 2006. The two parties consolidated their commitment to fair politics in the Bhurban Declaration signed in March 2008.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has claimed credit for not harassing political rivals, but the appointments he made to the post of the NAB chairman were controversial.
Mr Bukhari was wearing a burgundy necktie and looked relaxed. He is heading one of the most controversial institutions in Pakistan. Among those unhappy with him is the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
"I am not here to please the Supreme Court, the government or any other state institution. I am not here for self-projection. I only prefer to serve under the mandate I am given," he said.
He denied President Zardari or Prime Minister Gilani exerted pressure on him or used their influence to get undue favours. He claimed he had never spoken to either President Zardari or Prime Minister Gilani before taking over NAB.
Admiral (r) Bukhari was recently criticised for his statement about presidential immunity. NAB is a party in the Swiss graft cases against President Zardari. The question of presidential immunity is pending before the Supreme Court, and Prime Minister Gilani has defied the court's order to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen the cases.
"There's no controversy in the question of presidential immunity. The president enjoys immunity under the Constitution and that has also been recognized by the Supreme Court in the judgments. I just expressed my opinion on the matter," he said.
He said both Nawaz Sharif and Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf went after Asif Ali Zardari for 16 years, but they were unable to bring back the money presumably laying in some Swiss bank account.
The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had better chances of deciding the case during the Musharraf regime, he added.
"It would have been better to proceed against the man (Zardari), who then had no (presidential) immunity. The chief justice could have taken a suo moto notice."
Admiral (r) Bukhari joined the Navy in 1959 and was a hero of 1971 war. He was elevated to the office of Chief of Naval Staff in 1997, and resigned in October 1999. According to reports, he had resigned in protest after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif refused to appoint him Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Instead, the prime minister had appointed General Pervez Musharraf as CJCSC who was junior to Admiral Bukhari.
He recalled how he had kicked Gen Musharraf out of his house when the latter requested him to back him after the military intervention of October 1999.
He said Gen Musharraf had violated the sanctity of the Constitution and his service oath that he would not take part in politics. Many of the judges of superior judiciary had also taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), he added.
To a question, he said he was trying to address the bureau's credibility crisis. "In the past, governments used accountability as a tool against their political opponents. The NAB earned a bad name. Enforcement as a tool won't work. You could go around catching big and little fish for another 1000 years, but the flow of corruption won't stop."
Admiral (r) Bukhari said the independence of judiciary was one of the prerequisites to safeguarding public money. He said it could take years of hard work to formulate and implement the regulatory frameworks to protect the illegal drainage of money from the national exchequer. "We need good people to make policies. It's a battle to get the right people with correct political will who can make policies to safeguard our money," he said. "And it requires independence of judiciary and supremacy of Parliament."
He dispelled the impression that a society could be cleansed of corruption altogether, but argued the level of corruption could be reduced to the extent that the big fish do not operate freely.
Under Admiral (r) Bukhari the NAB equally implements the policies of enforcement and prevention.
Of a pending accountability bill before a parliamentary committee, he said NAB had given its input already. NAB had asked the government to provide it greater independence so it could evade pressure of becoming a political victimisation machine. "The NAB law is a fine ordinance. It provides adequate powers, procedures and jurisdiction. The only thing we seek is greater independence," he said. "Currently, we are under the law ministry, but we would like to be an autonomous institution."
He revealed that NAB had been working at 28 percent of its total strength that alone was the biggest handicap. Recently, the government has allowed NAB to enhance its manpower. In the first phase, 317 grade-17 officers would be inducted to clear the backlog and pursue new cases. The prime focus, he said, was to bring the money back. He did not comment on the slow speed of the legal process, but said his institution allowed the accused to return money at various legal stages.
Asked to comment on the reports of receiving an expensive piece of land in Islamabad, he said it was his right. "I don't have the plot right now. I asked for the entitlement six month back, but haven't got it so far."
which we all know is "tu meri chori chupa mien teri chori chupata hon..." SamjhotaExpress of Statusquo.... carry on !!
