Govt to be facilitated in foreign cases: NAB

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) says it will act as a facilitator if the government initiates President Zardari’s cases in Switzerland, Spain and United Kingdom. Chairman NAB Naveed Ahsan has sent letters to all regional offices with instructions to submit applications to revive all the cases to 4th Oct 2007 position and restoration of all the cases will not take much time, a NAB official told DawnNews.

He maintained that regarding President Asif Ali Zardari’s cases in Switzerland, Spain and United Kingdom, including the famous Surrey Mansion, NAB will act as a facilitator to the government.

The official was of the view that the prime minister, Federal Cabinet or the Establishment Division will make any correspondence with foreign governments to restart the pending cases.

However, Talking to DawnNews, Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said that the Foreign Office has no concern with the matter as investigations or persuasion of the cases abroad is up to the government.

Regarding the services of MB Abbasi, Hussain Haqqani and Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan who are working in Iran, USA and UK respectively, the spokesman said that the government is the sole authority for appointing envoys because they are political appointees and any future decision in this regard would be up to the government.