Islamabad 6th January 2021: Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman spoke to the media after the Public Accounts Committee meeting was cut short and said, “In the last meeting, NAB chairman had asked for a Public Accounts Committee in-camera meeting to present the figures on the utilisation and recovery from the NAB’s proceedings. This was an extremely important subject that both Naveed Qamar and I turned around from on our way to Lahore and missed the CEC meeting to come and attend. Both the date for the meeting was chosen by the NAB chairman and yet he did not show up.”
She continued on to say, “Last night we received a letter stating that the Principal Accounting Officer has been changed. The question now remains that will the Principal Accounting Officer be responsible for the decisions taken by NAB? Due to all the issues raised because of this situation, we have told the PAC Chairman that this meeting cannot take place.”
The Senator said, “Is accountability only for politicians but not for the NAB chairman? NAB does not hold in-camera meetings for politicians. Speculations around politicians’ dealings become a regular topic in the media, without investigations, evidence or even references. Public Accounts Committee is a vehicle for constitutional accountability but from today’s proceedings it seems as though NAB wants to evade accountability from the Parliament.”
Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Naveed Qamar continued by saying, “The NAB Chairman wants accountability from everyone, but his refusal to show up to this meeting shows that he refuses accountability for himself. This will set a dangerous precedent, as now every secretary can say that they are busy and instead of showing up to fulfill their role, they can designate their role to the joint secretary and absolve themselves from accountability. If the NAB Chairman is unable to make decisions, then the NAB ordinance would need to be changed. There is a moral authority that comes with this position, but the Chairman has shown today that he is no longer fit for that authority.”