NAB’s newfound mission

The accountability watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), has announced conducting inquiries into all Panama Papers companies with Pakistani connections. 

NAB authorities should have done this in 2015 when the Panama Papers scandal took the world by storm and claimed several figures in several countries. 

Our then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members, also among the Panama companies owners, refused to step down like other government figures in several countries. A suo moto by the Supreme Court set the accountability in motion, and a joint investigation team (JIT) came up with more startling revelations. 

The verdict was delivered with due justifications but Nawaz Sharif keeps on asking “mujhey kion nikala (why did you oust me?)”.  

After a lapse of good two years, new NAB chairman Javed Iqbal, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, has taken this popular decision. 

Did he do a proper homework before announcing the move? 

No. 

The NAB chairman is playing to the gallery and is opening a Pandora's Box. The exercise will be beating around the bush. Under him, NAB prosecutors performed poorly in the Hudaibiya Papers Mills appeal in the Supreme Court. 

The decision to probe those named in the Panama Gate may inflict sleepless nights on them, but only for a few weeks or months. Later on, it may be a new normal for them to deal with the slow-paced NAB probe department. NAB's working capacity need to be revamped. At the moment, it lacks efficient investigators, and prosecutors and low and poor conviction rate in NAB cases speak volume.

Political parties, especially the Pakistan Muslim League-N and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf will be affected the most as most of the named in the Panama Papers are linked with these two parties. As it is the election year, the opening of such cases may arise the element of witch hunting by NAB. These two parties may try to play victim cards to derail the accountability process.

Also, NAB can easily be influenced by the government. We have seen special treatment by NAB to the Sharifs and Captain Safdar in references against them and a different approach towards Dr Asim Husain and Sharjeel Insam Memon. Also, the NAB authorities did not file an appeal with the Supreme Court in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case against the verdict of the Lahore High Court in 2014, because the defendants belonged to the Sharif family. If some breakthrough was done in the Panama Papers case, it was due to the efficient work of the JIT members, who had all the resources at their disposal and had the full backing of the Supreme Court judges.

To make its new mission a success, NAB needs to reform its structural working and exercise a great level of autonomy. It should collaborate with other investigating and spy agencies like the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence to accelerate fact gatherings. These agencies’ involvement in the Panama Papers case of Nawaz Sharif had brought about a great change in the results. Also, it needs to go beyond borders and establish a working relationship with other accountability watchdogs for corruption is now an international disease, and mostly one corruption involves more than one countries.

Hopefully, NAB is serious to counter corruption in Pakistan, and it will succeed in its mission.