President Arif Alvi to appoint NAB chairman: Farogh Naseem

The new chairman of the National Accountability Bureau will be appointed by President Arif Alvi after consultation with the leaders of the House and Opposition, Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem announced.

In a press conference Wednesday, he said that until the new chairman is appointed, Justice [retd] Javed Iqbal will continue to serve as the bureau’s chief. “Let me make it clear that he [Iqbal] will be able to exercise all the powers, functions and authorities that a normal chairman has.”

The prime minister, cabinet members and government believe that there should be a larger pool of candidates to select from, Naseem pointed out.

The minister explained that the names of the candidates for NAB chairman will be sent to the president. “If, in case, the consultation between Opposition and leader of the House turns out to be non-consensus, a parliamentary committee will be formed comprising six members from the government’s benches and six members from the Opposition benches.”

The committee will be formed by the speaker.

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who was co-addressing the press conference, reiterated that the prime minister will not talk with Opposition as long as PML-N leader Shehbaz Sharif occupies the post.

“If Shahbaz Sharif had a degree of shame he would resign as Opposition leader himself.”

The story is being updated.