ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has said that National Bureau of Accountability (NAB) should be an independent institution and the Supreme Court should appoint its head.
Talking to media persons here on Monday, Imran Khan expressing his resentment over Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s move to turn a blind eye on Panama Papers issue and evading opposition’s queries stressed that the case regarding Panama Papers should immediately be heard.
He blasted the NAB and said the accountability watchdog was encouraging corruption in the country with decisions like plea bargain. He said that the NAB had accepted the plea bargain application of ex-Balochistan bureaucrat Mushtaq Raisani for Rs2.25bn in his corruption case of Rs 40 billion which was condemnable.
He further accused PM Nawaz of lying in the National Assembly as well as in the Supreme Court, saying that Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had already told the truth about the premier’s corruption.
He said his party won’t accept placing regulatory authorities under ministries. We will strong oppose this government move, he warned.
“Some 12 corruption cases against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif are pending in NAB,” Khan said, adding that NAB cannot perform its duties if the federal government oversees its matters.
Khan accused NAB of fuelling corruption in the country. “They’re letting the corrupt and powerful people go under the pretext of plea bargains,” he said, adding the NAB chairman should resign himself.
He was referring to Dar’s handwritten statement, given before a magistrate back in April 25, 2000, in which he had alleged the premier laundered money during the late 1990s.
The PTI chief said that the entire public believes PM Nawaz is guilty of money-laundering. “But it also knows he will go unpunished,” he added.
When asked about non attendance of PTI MNAs from the National Assembly, he said that it is a form of ‘protest’ and his party workers were busy working for the public.
“The job of the opposition is to question the executive powers. We are doing our job,” Khan said.
