Cannot appear before NA committee due to 'prior commitments': NAB chief

Cannot appear before NA committee due to 'prior commitments': NAB chief

Islamabad (Staff Report): Chairman National Accountability Bureau Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal on Wednesday sought more time to appear for a hearing before the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Law and Justice committee meeting citing a ‘short-notice’ and his already ‘scheduled official commitments’ for the day.

The panel on Tuesday summoned the head of the accountability watchdog to appear before it today [Wednesday] in connection with a NAB’s press release which said it will investigate Sharif’s alleged money laundering.

The NAB chief has been summoned in ‘personal capacity’ to explain his stance on the matter.

Through an official correspondence, the Chairman NAB informed the panel that since he already had a hectic schedule for the day including a meeting of the NAB’s Executive Board.

On May 8, NAB released a press statement announcing to initiate a complain verification against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for money laundering US$4.9 billion to India. After the controversy arises, the NAB on May 9 released another press release saying it had treated a three-month old column of a writer published in a daily Urdu newspaper as a complaint against Sharif. In column, the writer has alleged that Sharif is involved in money laundering.

The issue was also raised in National Assembly where the PML-N lawmakers demanded to summon the chairman NAB before relevant committee of the House to clarify the situation.