Govt decides to appoint Ali Asghar as Prosecutor General NAB

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Finally the standoff between the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the federal government came to an end on Tuesday with the decision of appointing Syed Ali Asghar as the new Prosecutor General of the anti-graft watchdog.

A senior official in the Law Ministry has confirmed that the government has decided to appoint former Lahore High Court (LHC) judge Syed Ali Asghar as new PG NAB.

The notification regarding his appointment will be issued soon.

The Supreme Court has already taken notice over the delay in the appointment. The court will resume hearing on January 24.The top court sought a concise statement from law secretary regarding the delay in the appointment of recently filled post.

The post was vacant since November of last year, when the three-year tenure of former PG Waqas Qadeer Dar ended.

Under the law, the federal government must make the appointment after consulting the NAB chairman.

Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal sent a list of five lawyers to the federal government to choose from.

The chairman proposed Mudhasir Khalid Abbasi, Shah Khawar, Syed Asghar Haider, Fasihul Mulk, and Nasir Saeed Sheikh.

However, the president rejected all names owing to several reasons. Later, the president sent three names to the chairman NAB to select from. The president recommended Ramzan Chaudhry, Najeeb Faisal and Waqar Hassan Mir but the chairman rejected his nominees.

Sources revealed that Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali played a pivotal role to end the deadlock between federal government and NAB.

Asghar’s name was recommended by the NAB chief. He was also among those LHC judges who had taken oath under November 3, 2007 PCO.