Islamabad (Staff Report): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to initiate investigations against former army chief General (retd) Pervez Musharraf for his alleged corruption during his tenure as president of Pakistan.
A division bench of the High Court, comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, issued the directions to allow NAB to probe Musharraf over corruption.
According to details, Lt Col (retd) Inamur Rahim in 2014 filed a petition to seek probe against Musharraf for allegedly holding assets beyond known sources of income and corruption practices.
Rahim, in 2013, had filed a complaint to launch an investigation but the bureau informed that such measures could not be taken against ex-army chief for want of the jurisdiction and the petitioner had moved the Islamabad High Court after rejection.
The IHC observed: “The bureau is vested with the power and jurisdiction to consider the complaint of the petitioner and after such consideration if it is of the opinion that an offence under the Ordinance of 1999 is prima facie made out, then it will become a duty of the latter to proceed to inquire, investigate and take all other steps mandated under the Ordinance of 1999.”
Rahim accused Musharraf of injecting “corruption into the senior hierarchy of the armed forces by allotting those plots over and above their entitlements”.
The court ruled: “We are satisfied that the Bureau has indeed erred in misinterpreting the provisions of the Ordinance of 1999 by refusing to consider and entertain the complaint, which had been filed by the petitioner.”
However the court ordered that after retirement from Army and holding public office NAB has authority to probe ex-army chief Musharraf over corruption.
