Purpose of NAB’s blue, yellow, dark rooms only politics: Supreme Court judge

ISLAMABAD: Honorable Judge of Supreme Court Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail on Friday said he had served as a prosecutor in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), so he was well aware of its system, Bol News reported.

Jamal Mandokhail said blue, yellow and dark rooms were made in the NAB and their purpose was only politics. He said this while hearing the bail cancellation case of Ahad Cheema, Advisor to the Caretaker Prime Minister, in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court dismissed the NAB appeal filed for the cancellation of Ahad Cheema’s bail on the basis of withdrawal.

The NAB prosecutor said reinvestigation of the Ahad Cheema case was done which established that case could not be made.

Justice Athar Minullah said Ahad Cheema was in jail for three years and now NAB was saying that case could not be made. Who will compensate Ahad Cheema’s three years spent in jail, he asked.

Athar Manullah said Brigadier Asad Munir committed suicide due to NAB behavior. After the death of Asad Munir, he was acquitted by the court, he said. “Why does NAB have this kind of attitude towards honest people?” he inquired.

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said a friend of his was called as a witness by the NAB and he sat for five hours waiting. After keeping the chartered accountant sitting for five hours, he was asked to come later, the chief justice said.

The accountability watchdog was created by Musharraf for bureaucratic engineering, which NAB itself was proving, Justice Athar Minullah said. The responsibility of what NAB had been doing had to be put on someone, he said.

The top court said use of NAB law for nefarious purposes should be stopped. The NAB law was used ruthlessly and NAB was used as a tool against certain individuals, the Supreme Court observed.

NAB sought adjournment in the Ahad Cheema case 24 times in the High Court, Justice Athar Manullah said.

“NAB’s conduct was explained in detail by the High Court in the decision and NAB challenged the same decision in the Supreme Court,” Justice Athar Minullah said.

Even after keeping the suspect in prison for years, NAB says nothing was found in the investigation, Justice Athar Minullah said adding that the NAB should tell why it increased the burden of cases by filing this application.

Ahad Cheema was innocent because no crime was proved against him, he added.

Justice Jamal said the suspect serving the jail term for so many years should file a case on the NAB after being acquitted. He wondered why the NAB had unlimited power to file a case against anyone.