Sources told Geo News that Aftab Sultan, a former director-general of the Intelligence Bureau, has been named head of the National Accountability Bureau.
According to those with direct knowledge of the situation, the federal cabinet met today and approved Sultan’s nomination.
A proposal to designate Sultan as NAB chairman has been rebuffed by the allied parties. However, the PML-N had a series of meetings before making the final decision.
Sultan has twice served as the head of the IB and has remained a grade-22 officer in the police department.
The position had been vacant since June 2 when then-NAB chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal stepped down after the expiration of an ordinance extending his term till a new chairman was appointed.
Iqbal’s four-and-a-half-year term as the anti-corruption agency’s chief was one of the most contentious in the bureau’s history.
Despite the fact that Iqbal’s tenure as chairman of the NAB had expired in October of that year, the PTI published an order to extend his stay in office until a new head of the NAB had been appointed.
While this is a positive development, it does not mean that the PTI administration has begun working with the opposition leader to choose a replacement chairman.
National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill 2021, which was approved by a joint session of Parliament, now prohibits NAB chairman re-appointment after his or her current four-year term ends.
The tenure of the NAB chairman and the bureau’s prosecutor-general has been shortened from four to three years under the bill. The federal government will have the authority to name the deputy chairman.
