ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial on Tuesday hinted to restore the corruption references that were closed by the accountability courts after the recent amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO). .
Pointing to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Additional Prosecutor General (APG) Mumtaz Yusuf and asking him to keep the record of these references in safe custody and in an “organised”, the Chief Justice said, “You Never know if these references can be revived.” and the digitized method.”
The chief justice was heading a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which challenged PTI chairman Imran Khan’s amendments to the NAB rules in August.
The Chief Justice reminded that the APG was earlier directed to submit the details of the references which were returned to the NAB by the accountability courts after amendments.
However, the APG explained that it is in the process of collecting the material and NAB has already constituted a committee to scrutinize the references to be returned.
The court asked the APG to submit the records within a week.
The Supreme Court explained that the records being sought should include the names of the accused in the references returned by the trial courts to the NAB as well as the amount.
Justice Bundyal emphasized that “NAB should collate, tabulate, physically store and digitize records for safe storage.” He said that the bureau should continue to bring all the references returned by the accountability courts to the notice of the Supreme Court.
The Chief Justice said that the NAB will also report to the court the details of inquiries and investigations which it had conducted, but were suspended or stopped after the amendments.
Senior lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan, representing the federal government, pleaded with the court that in its order, NAB must submit complete records of all cases.
EXCEPTIONS AND EXCEPTIONS
The Chief Justice said that there is a question under discussion in the media and Parliament that action should not be taken against a certain class of people such as businessmen because NAB rules are strict. “We need to strike a balance and the idea is to do the right thing.”
Justice Bandyal, however, agreed with the observation that criminal sanctions alone can never ensure honest governments.
He cited the obligations under the provisions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as an example, saying that they can be strict, but at the same time some exporters admit that they have helped by laying down regulations. The Chief Justice expressed regret that the amendments in the NAB rules were passed without debate in the Parliament.
Makhdoom Ali Khan recalled that a series of ordinances had been promulgated before these amendments, asking the petitioner to explain that there was a “serious need” to hastily promulgate ordinances to amend the accountability law. “What was
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah said that he wants to know about the people who have been removed from the purview of NAB and whether the judges have been given immunity or not.
Senior lawyer Khawaja Haris Ahmed, who represented the petitioner, argued that judges do not come under the purview of NAB rules, however, Justice Shah said that there is no clear mention of exemption for judges other than armed forces personnel.
“I may be asked to answer why I gave a particular decision,” the judge remarked.
Khawaja Haris, recalling the reference to the increase in the prices of medicines, said that the accused had to return 73 million rupees by plea bargaining. He also cited six references in the Rental Power Plants case, recalling that the accused had deposited Rs 8.68 billion in the exchequer.
“But after the amendments, public money in such cases will be gone forever.”
