NAB officer investigating Rental Power case found dead

NAB officer investigating Rental Power case found dead By Asad Kharal Published: January 18, 2013 Police was called to investigate his suicide. PHOTO: FILE ISLAMABAD: A member of National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) investigative team inspecting the Rental Power Plants (RPP) cases was found dead in his room on Friday, sources familiar with the development told The Express Tribune. Investigative officer, Kamran Faisal, was residing in room no. 1 of Federal Lodges in Islamabad. The deceased, assistant Director of NAB’s Rawalpindi chapter, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself to the ceiling fan. Immediately after the incident took place, NAB Chairman Fasih Bokhari, Inspector General of Islamabad Police Bani Amin and other officials of NAB and police reached the Federal Lodges and declared it to be a case of suicide, based on initial investigations. However, the real facts can only be unearthed after postmortem is done and medical report is issued. Faisal was a father of three, including a daughter. He belonged to Mian Channu in Punjab. He had assisted Deputy Director of NAB’s Rawalpindi chapter, Asghar Khan, in the inquest of RPP case. Sources said that Faisal was under pressure for some weeks because he and Khan had been suspended by the NAB when they forwarded the investigation report through Director General NAB Rawalpindi Col (retd) Subah Sadiq. The report was sent for approval from Bokhari for filing references against Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and 15 others named in the investigation before the Accountability Court in Rawalpindi. The NAB had also suspended Sadiq and attached him with NAB Headquarters in Islamabad. Sadiq has been replaced by DG NAB Lahore Khursheed Anwar Bhinder. The officials had been removed from the investigation of the RPP cases by Bokhari, saying that the Supreme Court of Pakistan was happy with their performance in the case. More than 20 officials of NAB from Punjab while talking to The Express Tribune alleged that it was an attempted murder which was being framed as suicide, because the roof window of Faisal’s room was ajar when the police went there for investigation. Case background Earlier last year, the court directed NAB to proceed against all government functionaries involved, including the ministers for water and power during whose tenure the RPP were approved or set up, and the minister and finance secretary holding charge when down payment for RPP was increased from 7% to 14%. Liaquat Jatoi and Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf were water and power ministers in 2006 and 2008, respectively, while Shaukat Tareen was the finance minister in 2008, when down payment was increased. Of the 19 RPP deals signed initially, only nine were allowed to function after a damning Asian Development Bank evaluation report. Subsequently, six of those nine RPP were discontinued. ======================== Rental power case: An improbable suicide By Umer Nangiana Published: January 19, 2013 Faisal, who held the position of assistant director at the bureau, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room at the federal lodge number 2. PHOTO: FILE ISLAMABAD: The corruption scandal involving Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf took a tragic turn on Friday when an officer investigating the high-profile case was found dead at a hostel in the federal capital. A day after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chief told the Supreme Court he did not yet have enough evidence to move against the prime minister and 15 others on accusations of graft, Faisal – one of the officers looking into alleged kickbacks by the premier in transactions involving rental power plants when he was power minister – was found dead in a government hostel where he lived with other NAB colleagues. Faisal, who held the position of assistant director at the bureau, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room at the federal lodge number 2. Initial investigations indicated Faisal committed suicide, said Secretariat police. However, the officer’s family and friends insist that Faisal was not a man of “weak nerves”. “Routine pressure and stresses are part of a NAB investigator’s daily life,” said a senior NAB officer, requesting anonymity, who said he had been working with Faisal for more than six months. “He must have been under immense pressure if he has actually committed suicide. He was a strong man as I know him,” said the NAB officer. Islamabad police officials say they found no evidence of a forced entry or signs of resistance in Faisal’s room. “It was locked from inside. The body was hanging from the ceiling fan. Besides, there was no other possible exit from the room,” said a senior police officer, who claimed that law enforcers had investigated the crime scene thoroughly before sealing it. Inspector General of Police in Islamabad Bani Amin told reporters that the crime scene indicated that Faisal had committed suicide, while confirming that the body had been found. “We are investigating [the case] from different angles… We will establish an opinion after the autopsy,” he said. There were some contradictions when police officials were asked about how they were informed about Faisal’s death. The police claimed they were informed by NAB authorities who, on the contrary, said they were informed by the police. However, the locked room was opened in the presence of Station House Officer (SHO) Secretariat police. Faisal’s body was then taken to Poly Clinic hospital, where a six-member board of doctors headed by Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Naru conducted an autopsy on it. The officer’s family did not want to conduct a post-mortem on the body but the police insisted, said a police official. “It was a requirement in this case as the incident has to be probed,” he said. Untimely death Faisal, who leaves behind a widow and two daughters, was dispatched to his native town of Mian Channu for burial. “The chairman and all NAB officers express their deepest condolences on the tragic demise of Kamran to his family,” said a statement released by a NAB spokesperson. However, the timing of Faisal’s death raised many eyebrows in NAB and the legal fraternity – who questioned the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. “We were together the previous evening and I noticed no signs of stress on Faisal. He was in his usual mood,” said an officer, who has been working alongside Faisal in the PM’s case. “We ate together at the hostel. I did not notice any unusual about his behaviour,” said another NAB officer, who lived in the same government hostel. Earlier, the Supreme Court bench hearing the rental power case was irked by the transfer of Faisal and another officer under the pretext of the “court’s displeasure”. In its January 15 order, the SC observed that the court never expressed displeasure over Faisal’s performance at any stage during the hearing of the RPPs case. The court also observed that NAB failed to present any evidence that the court had made any such observation on Faisal’s performance. “We issue notice to Chairman NAB to explain as to why he has falsely used the name of the SC with the view to remove the IOs (Investigations Officers) Asghar Ali and Kamran Faisal,” the court said in its judgment. Faisal was one of the eight NAB officials, including the chairman of the bureau, who were issued contempt notices by the SC for non compliance of the judgment on the RPPs case. “But this contempt notice could not have led to committing suicide. The matter was solved,” said a NAB colleague of the deceased officer. Meanwhile, police said they would lodge investigations into the incident after receiving a complete autopsy, including a chemical examination report. “It will take a week or so and before this police cannot proceed with investigations,” said a police officer, adding that a case would only be registered after finding substantial evidence of Faisal’s death resulting from a criminal act. Faisal’s uncle, Dr Tariq, quoted his father Chaudhry Abdul Hameed as saying that as Faisal was a man of steely nerves, he could not have committed suicide. Be that as it may, police officials said no family member or friend of Faisal’s had reported any threats to his life. Faisal joined NAB in 2006 and served in Quetta till May 2011. After this, he opted to join the Federal Investigation Agency. However, he returned to NAB in May 2012, where he continued to serve until his death. Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2013. Read more: rentalpower ====================== National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Fasih Bokhari said on Monday that the Rental Power Projects (RPP) case will be suspended until an independent investigation into the death of NAB official Kamran Faisal is completed, Express News reported. If the investigation is unsatisfactory, NAB will conduct the investigation itself, Bokhari said. He added that any officer who wishes to remove himself from the case may do so. Express News correspondent Haider Naseem reported that the only officer who had requested to be taken off the RPP case was Faisal himself. NAB presents five demands The employees and officers of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) presented five demands to authorities earlier on Monday after their fellow officer Faisal was ‘mysteriously’ found dead, reported Express News. The employees demanded that a Supreme Court judge should inquire into the death of Faisal, who was investigating the Rental Power Projects case involving Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. Faisal’s post mortem report had declared the death a suicide but his family refused to accept the report, insisting it was murder.