Supreme Court summons NAB officials
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered the NAB to provide details on the plea bargain act.
Dunya News Reports (Yaruq Malik)
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to provide details on the plea bargain act and has ordered the bureau to provide a complete list of the officers who have been hired by NAB from other institutions.
Justice Amir Hani Muslim has questioned the recent hiring made by NAB and has asked for the total number of people who are working at senior positions in the bureau for accountability. Justice Amir criticized the NAB for misusing the plea bargain act and questioned the Chairman NAB for the credibility of the act used by the institution as a process of consolidation in major corruption cases.
“Under the plea bargain act, a man accused of corruption charges worth Rs.100 million is released if he provides Rs. 10 million, then the same man is restored in his office where he gets involved in more corruption worth Rs. 200 million, what sort of a process is this?” said the judge in his remarks.
The Justice further added that if procedures under NAB continue in the same manner, then NAB should be shut down immediately.
“If this is how NAB works, it must be shut down,” Said Justice Amir.
Previously, the National Accountability Bureau had provided the Supreme Court of Pakistan with a total of 150 ‘mega corruption’ cases worth billions of rupees. The document included the likes of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and many other prominent personalities.
The document consisted of ex-ministers, bureaucrats, former premiers who had been accused of misuse of power, state resources, and corruption in their scope of work.
The Sharif family is accused for constructing a road from Raiwind to Sharif family house worth Rs 126 million.
Similarly, Ex-Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is accused under the ‘assets beyond resources’ case worth Rs 2,428 billion. Current Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is also under the similar cases of 23 million pounds, 3,488 million dollars and 1,250 million dollars.
Pakistan People’s Party’s former Ambassador to the U.S.A, Hussain Haqqani is also under the spot light for embezzling funds and issuing licenses to private companies.
Ex-Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is accused of corruption and mishandeling of resources for the rental power plants case. Moreover, Ex-President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari is accused of assets beyond resources and corruption cases worth US$ 22 billion and US$ 1.5 billion.
Business tycoons Schon Group and Younus Habib are also part of the document for being on default for Rs 1,245billion and Rs 3 billion respectively.
From Baluchistan, former Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani is under scrutiny for allegedly having assets beyond resources worth Rs 100 million.
Furthermore, former Interior Minister Aftab Sher Pao, Ghazi Akhtar of Tandiyanwal Suger Mills, former Chairman of National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) Ayaz Khan Niazi and another ex-Chairman of NICL Abid Jawed for billions of rupees.
NAB has provided the Supreme Court of Pakistan with ample evidence of alleged ‘foul play’ across Pakistan. The forthcoming hearings of these trials will ensure whether these allegations are authentic or mere accusations.
