ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has sought assistance from the Multan police to send a second notice to former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for recording his statement in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam.
A spokesperson for NAB, Ramzan Sajid, told Dawn on Thursday that the bureau had sent the notice to police, which would serve it on Mr Gilani at his residence in Multan, probably on Friday.
He said the first notice was sent to the former prime minister through mail and he was summoned on Wednesday, but Mr Gilani did not appear before NAB’s investigators.
An inside source said that police officials would visit Mr Gilani’s residence on Friday and formally serve the notice. If Mr Gilani and members of his family refused to accept the notice police officials would attach it on the outer wall of the house, he added.
According to the NAB ordinance, the bureau can arrest an accused on non compliance of its three notices.
In the NICL scam, Mr Gilani has been accused of illegally appointing Ayaz Khan Niazi as NICL chairman in February 2009.
He has also been accused of issuing orders in 2011 for the transfer of former director general of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Zafar Ahmed Qureshi, who was investigating the NICL scam.
A former secretary of Establishment, Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, who appeared before a NAB team on Tuesday, claimed that he removed Mr Qureshi from the FIA on the directives of former prime minister Gilani.
It is pertinent to mention here that Mr Gilani has already defied five notices from NAB in connection with his alleged involvement in the case of appointment of Tauqeer Sadiq as chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) in 2009.
Mr Gilani admitted that since he made such decisions as prime minister, they cannot be challenged by NAB.
The investigation team recorded the statement of NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry on Tuesday over his alleged role in the NICL scam.
Sources said NAB serves notice on an accused so that he/she could get a chance of clearing his/her position and if the investigation team thinks that it has enough evidence in the case it could proceed further without statement of the accused person.
They said NAB had given enough time to Mr Gilani to clear his position and if he would not appear before its investigators, it would be up to the investigation team to go for his arrest or proceed further without his statement. In this case NAB would inform the court that it did not require Mr Gilani’s point of view, they added.
Talking about the issue of immunity to the former prime minister, they said there was a clear verdict of the Supreme Court that if anyone thought that he had any immunity he should claim it before the court.