Federal government approved name of former director general of the civilian spy agency – Intelligence Bureau, Aftab Sultan for the vacant slot of chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
In its meeting under the chair of incumbent prime minister on Thursday, federal cabinet also discussed various issues amid giving approval of Aftab Sultan name as NAB’s new chairman.
Sources said that Pakistan People Party (PPP) has suggested name of Aftab Sultan who enjoys good reputation being an honest officer. Sultan has earlier served as inspector general of the Punjab police and the commandant of the National Police Academy.
His father and mother-in-law have been members of the National Assembly twice. Aftab belongs to Faisalabad and started his career in the Police Service of Pakistan in 1977 as an assistant superintendent in Punjab police.
It is pertinent to mention that earlier, the federal cabinet had approved drastic changes in the accountability laws and put a limit on the jurisdictions of the anti-graft watchdog, barring surveillance through agencies and stripping the president of powers to appoint accountability judges.
Besides, the National Accountability (third amendment) bill, 2020, stipulates that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cannot investigate cases amounting to less than Rs500 million and defines the limit of a suspicious financial transaction while bounding the bureau to share the grounds of arrest at the time of arrest and empowers it to discharge or acquit accused at any stage.
The coveted post was lying vacant since last month after then-NAB chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, on June 2, relinquished charge of his office on expiry of the ordinance through which he was given an extension till the appointment of a new chairman. The four-year-and-eight-month-long tenure of Iqbal — who was appointed as the anti-graft body’s chairman in 2017 — was one of the most controversial eras of the bureau.
