The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) special prosecutor and federal legal officials regarding a petition submitted by the head of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) that the petition opposes the NAB investigation Suspected of purchasing NICVD stents.

The petitioner, Dr. Nadeem Qamar, the executive director of NICVD, notified NAB of the violation of purchasing stents for the institute from July 2014 to June 2020. The anti-corruption monitoring agency targeted Dr. Qamar, who was traced several times to obtain the information he had provided.

The High Court was told that the investigation was basically aimed at the suspected illegal appointment of NICVD, and the scope of the investigation has been expanded repeatedly. The petitioner received a notice on June 22, requesting him to provide detailed information on the number of stents used. July 2014 to June 2020.

The lawyer stated that the matter has been lingering since 2016 and was carried out with malicious intent to harm the petitioner and others. He argued that the entire operation of the National Bank against the petitioner was nothing more than fishing and patrolling investigations, trying to dig up information to erroneously implicate the petitioner’s hospital officials.

He told SHC that NAB’s issue of the notice of challenge and the constant request for information from petitioners and other NICVD officials are cases of NAB harassment and abuse of power, because the anti-corruption regulator has all the necessary details and documents regarding NICVD matters.

He requested the High Court to declare that the accused NAB’s notice of the investigation of the NICVD officer amounted to fishing and touring exercises, and to revoke it.

After the preliminary hearing of the petition, the SHC Chamber headed by Judge Yusuf Ali Said issued notices to federal legal officials, NAB special prosecutors and others and listened to their opinions.

It’s worth mentioning here that SHC recalled as many as 17 NICVD officers on temporary protective bail during the NAB investigation, excluding Dr. Qamar, which involved illegal appointments and abuse of the institute’s deliberate avoidance of joining The authority of NAB is inquired.

NICVD officials were also instructed to appear before NAB investigators, who repeatedly claimed that NICVD officials did not cooperate with investigations and abused the benefits of protective bail.

The anti-corruption regulator earlier notified the High Court that NICVD received up to Rs 32 billion from the Sindh provincial government from 2014 to 2020, but still owed about Rs 7 billion in debt.

NAB investigators submitted 15 billion rupees to NICVD officials, including doctors and officials hired on contract between 2014 and 2020, and daily bets, which exceeded 50% of the total grants provided by the Sindh government. NAB claims that the proportion of funds paid to NICVD employees has increased year by year, while expenditures for treating patients have decreased year by year.

NAB officials have stated that NICVD executive directors have spent billions of rupees on various administrative projects, including hotel rentals, restaurants, vehicle rentals, POL, and other payments to the most well-known individuals of NICVD management.