Aftab Sultan resigns as NAB chairman citing 'interference'

Islamabad: Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Aftab Sultan Tuesday resigned from his post over 'unwanted interference', reports quoting sources said. 

According to sources, the outgoing official attributed his resignation to several concerns, with a particular emphasis on the interference with the bureau's work.

The reports citing sources added that Aftab Sultan recently met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who accepted his resignation.

The Prime Minister appreciated the services of Aftab Sultan and lauded his honesty and uprightness.
 

While explaining his reasons for resigning to the Prime Minister, the former NAB chairman--during the meeting--stated: "I don't want anything to be done that casts doubt on the integrity of the institution". 

The ex-NAB chairman went on to express that he has always worked within the confines of merit and law, and that he could not continue working in the current environment.

While talking to a local news channel, Sultan disclosed that he had resigned from his position a few days earlier after being asked to carry out actions that he found ‘unacceptable’. 

Sultan stepped down from his position after serving for seven months.

He was appointed as NAB Chairman by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government, succeeding Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, whose tenure had ended in 2022.

The former Director General (DG) of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was appointed as the anti-graft watchdog's chairman on July 21, 2022. 

Prior to his NAB role, Sultan served as Punjab Police IG.

He served two governments each of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) under four Prime Ministers — Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. 

Additionally, Sultan was named as a co-accused with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a NAB reference related to alleged irregularities in purchasing vehicles for the Saarc conference. 

The reference was approved, but the NAB did not file it. 

Sultan is a law graduate from Punjab University, who later did LLM from the University of Cambridge and also MSc in jurisprudence/legal studies from the University of Edinburgh. 

Aftab retired as the IB head on April 3, 2018 after serving since June 7, 2013.