First time in history, DG NAB reappointed after retirement

President Arif Alvi has approved the appointment of Farooq Nasir Awan for one more year.

The summary was sent to the President with the approval of NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal and the Law Ministry.

According to local media outlet, Farooq Nasir Awan is overseeing the Malam Jabba and BRT Peshawar cases however no arrests have been made in these two cases.

The Malam Jabba scandal surfaced on January 7, 2018. The NAB chairman, after declaring it a glaring example of corruption and misuse of authority, ordered an inquiry on January 9, 2018. The NAB KP converted the inquiry into investigation and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, KP CM Mahmood Khan, Provincial Minister for Sports and Culture Atif Khan and several bureaucrats recorded their statements.

In November 2019 year, the Peshawar High Court had ordered the FIA to probe into alleged irregularities in the project. A bench, headed by PHC Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, had instructed the FIA to submit its findings within 45 days, and take action against the officers involved.

In its order, the PHC termed the PTI government ‘visionless’ for concentrating money obtained as a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for just one project in a single city.

It further noted that no detailed feasibility study was undertaken to determine its economic, financial and technical viability before starting work on the mammoth project “which is why the design [of the project] has been repeatedly changed,” the judgment read.

The project’s per kilometre cost currently stands at Rs2.427 billion, which is “exorbitantly high”.