NAB to file reference against 16 NBP officials in fraud case

In a pre-executive board meeting, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has approved, in principle, to file a reference against 16 top officials of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in a case of Rs18.5 billion fraud in its Bangladesh operations, said a NAB official on Thursday.

On January 19, the pre-executive board meeting of NAB approved to file a reference in the Accountability Court in case of $185 million (Rs18.5 billion) scam in Bangladesh branches of the NBP, NAB Director Operations Ehtram Dar informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue.

He said NAB approved draft of the reference but the investigation officer of the case was asked to address a couple of lacunas.

In January 2014, The Express Tribune had revealed that Rs18.5 billion fraud had been committed in the Bangladesh operations of NBP. After that, the then chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Finance Omar Ayub Khan took up the matter and sent it to NAB for further investigation.

Dar said the reference would be filed within days in the Accountability Court against 16 officials of the bank including four Bangladeshi nationals.

The anti-graft watchdog had launched investigations against then president of NBP Syed Iqbal Ashraf, along with former president Syed Ali Raza and half a dozen senior executive vice presidents (SEVPs) of the bank, the documents showed.

Ashraf completed his term last week. The NAB inquiry named Zubair Ahmad, regional chief of Bahrain operations that also included Bangladesh, and QSM Jehanzeb, the general manager, as the main accused.

Ashraf provided shelter to Zubair and did not take action against the accused even after the NBP board of directors asked the bank president to do so in May 2013, according to the NAB inquiry.

It added Ashraf also did not act on observations of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) about corruption by Zubair and gave him an opportunity to retire from the bank. The SBP gave its observations in April 2015.

Zubair has in the past declined to take responsibility for the mega fraud.

The standing committee expressed its displeasure over slow progress on the case and asked NAB to complete the process within one month or else it would send a report to parliament.

Published in The Express Tribune,January 27th, 2017.