Warrants can be issued for NAB chairman if he does not appear before Senate: Saleem Mandviwalla.

LAHORE -- Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla on Sunday said that warrants can be issued to summon anyone before the Senate and if National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal does not appear before the Senate, warrants for him will be issued.

He was addressing a press conference in Lahore during which he talked about the list of complaints the Senate has received from different people pertaining to NAB's maltreatment and the failure by political parties to improve the NAB ordinance when they had a chance.

Mandviwalla blamed political parties for not making amendments to the NAB ordinance because of which it started intervening in every institution of the country.

He said that the government had issued an ordinance to limit the powers of NAB and confine its role to government and public corruption, but political parties could not reach a consensus on that.

"The government held several meetings with the Opposition regarding the matter of NAB's ordinance but they could not come to an agreement," Mandviwalla said.

As a result, the ordinance lapsed and NAB was given a chance to intervene in every institution of the country, including private businesses and bureaucracy.

The Senate deputy chairman said that NAB is intervening in everything now, including issues related to under-invoicing, and import and import cases, which is not its domain.

"The Senate has received a long list of complaints from businessmen in the United States and Canada, who said that they had to leave the country because NAB harassed them," he said.

He said that NAB has pervasively entered into Pakistan's society. 'NAB tortures people so much that they become helpless to do anything.'

'They force these helpless people to enter into a plea bargain.'

The Senate deputy chairman said that if the NAB chairman does not appear before the Senate, the law will take its course.

...