NAB chief urges withdrawal of Rs500m graft probe limit

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has urged the government to lift a Rs500 million limit on its ability to investigate alleged corruption cases involving government officials. Retired Lt Gen Nazir Ahmed, the NAB chairman, said that without the restriction, officials might become "addicted to committing corruption." Under the amended NAB law, the agency cannot pursue cases involving sums below Rs500 million, resulting in many ongoing cases being transferred to other departments, such as the Federal Investigation Agency.

The bureau's prosecutor general read out the amended law, stating that NAB cannot take action against members of the federal or provincial cabinets or their committees. However, committee chairman Senator Farooq Naek clarified that NAB could proceed against individuals who violated cabinet decisions or engaged in corrupt practices.

Moreover, NAB has been established to investigate large-scale corruption cases, such as the Rs1.20 trillion Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project, on which Rs513 billion has been spent. It has now come to light that the design prepared by the National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak) for the project was faulty. The NAB chairman highlighted that private sector corruption accounts for 45% of the country's total corruption, while government officials are responsible for 11%.

The committee also criticized the NAB's jurisdiction, with Senator Abdul Qadir urging the bureau to investigate the petroleum sector, where wells have been drilled for oil and gas exploration without any production.