ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), he opened an inquiry into former President Gen. (retd) Pervez Musharraf for having assets beyond his known sources of income.
Confirming the investigation to Arab News, NAB said it was acting on a complaint by a retired army colonel, Inamul Rahiem, against Musharraf. The bureau said it would complete its investigation in a couple of months before filing a corruption reference against the former army chief.
“We are pursuing the matter and will share complete details of the inquiry against Musharraf with the media in the next couple of days,” Nawazish Ali, an NAB spokesperson, told Arab News.
NAB rejected a complaint by Rahiem in 2013, saying the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, did not allow it to initiate an inquiry against a former head of state and ex-army chief.
Rahiem later filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court, seeking directions for NAB to investigate Musharraf for “making assets beyond his known sources of income.”
The court ruled in early February this year that a member of the armed forces who was also remained Pakistan’s president could not claim immunity or exemption from NAB laws.
The court ruling also said that a member of the armed forces after retirement or resignation could be tried under these laws since his immunity finished at the end of his service.
Rahiem told Arab News that he had sought the investigation against Musharraf on two counts: Misuse of authority and accumulation of assets beyond his means.
Quoting Musharraf’s book, “In the Line of Fire,” which was published in September 2006, the complainant said the former army chief had said that his administration had handed over 700 Pakistanis to the US and earned millions of dollars in bounty.
“Gen. Musharraf violated his oath by handing over Pakistanis to the US and he must be held accountable for it,” Rahiem said.
The former army chief had disclosed his assets in his nomination papers submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan in 2008 to contest election from Islamabad, and those assets were beyond his known sources of income.
Rahiem said that Musharraf had declared more than a dozen properties in Pakistan, the UK and UAE, as well as foreign bank accounts holding millions of dollars.
“Being an ex-army chief and president of Pakistan, he didn’t have the resources to buy all these properties and deposit millions of dollars in his foreign bank accounts,” Rahiem said.
The complainant also claimed that Musharraf had neither disclosed his assets to the Federal Board of Revenue nor paid any taxes against these resources.
“I have done my duty, provided enough evidence to NAB against Musharraf,” he said. “It is up to the bureau now to conduct a fair inquiry to hold the ex-army chief accountable.”
However, Shahzad Arbi, a spokesperson for Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League party, rejected the corruption allegations against Musharraf and said that the former president would cooperate with the NAB inquiry.
“Gen. Musharraf earned millions of dollars by delivering lectures in the US, UK and other European countries, besides earning huge revenues from his book,” he said.
“He (Musharraf) made all his assets abroad from his hard-earned money, and NAB will not find anything illegal to hold him accountable,” Arbi told Arab News.