NAB, BS-21 officer acquitted after nine years of suffering

ISLAMABAD: Acquitting a former secretary law and a Grade-21 officer in a NAB reference, the IHC on Tuesday observed that the case made by the Bureau appears to be an exercise to receive an amount from pharmaceutical companies without any justiciable reason.

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Arshad Farooq Faheem, the-then chairman of the Drug Pricing Committee, has acquitted by the IHC after nine years of suffering at the hands of NAB, which initiated an inquiry against him in 2013, upgraded it to an investigation in 2015 and filed the reference in 2016. The IHC said in its judgment that there is not an iota of evidence to prosecute the officer.

The officer arrested and put behind bars for seven months by NAB. He remained suspended till 2018. A reference filed in June 2016 but till the officer’s recent acquittal by the IHC in 2022, NAB did not allow a trial to commence and even the charges against him could not framed.

In 2019, the officer got a posting in the Ministry of Law and became the secretary law. But later made an OSD after the media asked how a NAB accused could become the secretary law.

While acquitting the officer, the IHC in its recent order noted that the sole authority for the registration, and licensing. Also pricing, import and export of any drugs or their cancellation, increase or decrease, is DRAP. Which was further endorsed and fixed by the federal government. Which can change or disagree with such pricing mechanisms or other regulatory regimes.