The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday clarified that no new inquiry has been ordered by the watchdog chairman against Chaudhry brothers, adding that ‘propaganda in media in this regard is baseless and concocted’.
“Neither NAB chairman has made any final decision on these cases nor has issued any orders against which legal proceedings could be initiated,” a statement issued by NAB read. “Routine inquiry in all old cases is going on since those cannot be dumped for a long time,” it went on to say. “NAB is a national institution working to eliminate corruption from the society and it has no affiliation with any political party, group or individual,” it said, adding that NAB strictly cares for self-respect of every individual under the law.
The NAB statement came as the Lahore High Court on Thursday issued a notice to the watchdog in a plea seeking to determine the jurisdiction of its chairman to reopen old inquiries.
PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi had filed a petition in the high court, alleging that the anti-graft watchdog had become an institution of ‘political engineering’, and had also raised questions on its investigation powers. A two-member bench of the LHC comprising Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem and Justice Farooq Haider heard the case, wherein Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi himself appeared. The LHC issued a notice to the accountability watchdog for May 11 and adjourned the hearing. The lawyer of the petitioners raised the objection that Justice Farooq Haider had been lawyer of the Chaudhry brothers, adding that morally he should not be hearing the case. To this, Justice Sardar Naeem said that it will also be decided on the next hearing.
