President Alvi retains major penalty awarded to corrupt NAB official for leaking official information.

ISLAMABAD -- President Dr. Arif Alvi has rejected the appeal of a NAB official to set aside the major penalty awarded to him over unlawful communication of official information for benefits of corruption. He also directed NAB to proceed against other officers involved in such cases and if found guilty punish them for doing corruption within the very institution that was responsible for controlling corruption.

Noman Iqbal, Assistant Private Secretary (BS-16) had been awarded the major penalty of 'reduction to a lower post for a period of five years' after it was proven that he copied and shared official information with unauthorized individuals. National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Karachi had conducted a fact-finding inquiry, based on a source report, under which confidential record was found in the mobile phone of Appellant, which he was otherwise not authorized to hold. NAB had recommended initiating disciplinary proceedings against Noman Iqbal.

Initially, the matter was probed by Chairman Inspection and Monitoring Team, NAB (HQ), which revealed that Noman Iqbal was involved in unlawful communication of official information inside and outside NAB in connivance with two other officials of NAB, Karachi. An inquiry committee was also constituted to probe into the matter that found the appellant guilty on charges of 'misconduct' and 'disclosure of official secrets'. A forensic analysis of...