Former DG NAB appointed PM’s aide on accountability

ISLAMABAD (TLTP): The government has appointed former director-general of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Brigadier (retd) Muhammad Musaddiq Abbasi as prime minister’s adviser on accountability and interior.
President Arif Alvi, on the advice of Prime Minister Imran Khan, appointed the ex-NAB chief on the post in the exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 93 of the Constitution.
The appointment was confirmed by the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib.
The development comes after Shehzad Akbar announced to step down from the post. Contrary to his announcement, key ministers, while requesting anonymity, confirmed that Akbar was “sacked” because the prime minister was not satisfied with his performance.
According to them, the former accountability chief failed to deliver despite frequently making claims, and ‘misguided’ the premier.
Following Akbar’s exit, names of some candidates were considered. The task of the new chief would remain the same, that is to show immediate results in the cases against Sharifs and Zardaris as the ruling party has long been vowing to ‘hold the powerful accountable over their corruption’.
Akbar had been serving as the special assistant to the PM (SAPM) on accountability and interior since the PTI government came into power in August 2018.
However, on July 23, 2020, he was upgraded as an adviser to the PM with the authority of a federal minister. Sources cite “zero recoveries” by the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) since its inception as another factor that led to him being sacked, adding that he “mislead” PM Imran during his briefings regarding accountability cases.