The Islamabad High Court on Monday, during a hearing of contempt petition against the National Accountability Bureau’s chief, said every public office holder, including the anti-graft watchdog, is answerable to the public.
A two-member bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, heard the petition against the NAB chairman over his failure to take action against former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in assets beyond known sources of income case.
During the proceedings, the bureau filed a response to the corruption inquiry against Musharraf in the court, in which it stated that it has obtained records of all the accounts and assets of the former president and his family. These include two properties abroad and two foreign accounts.
The NAB stated that it has submitted documents and written to MLAs abroad for further details of the overseas properties and accounts, and is awaiting a response.
In its reply, NAB further maintained that in the light of court orders, an inquiry was initiated against Musharraf in March 2018. The former president was included in the investigation and interrogated accordingly, therefore, the NAB chairman has not committed any contempt of court.
“The contempt of court petition against him [NAB chief] should be rejected with damages. Intelligence has been requested from the Financial Monitoring Unit regarding the suspicious assets of Pervez Musharraf and reports of suspicious transactions have also been sought,” the report added.
