The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman, Lt. General (Rtd) Nazir Ahmad, and the FIA Director General, Mohsin Hassan Butt, recently held a meeting to enhance cooperation and coordination in accountability, investigations, and organizational capacity building.
In a statement released on the social media platform X, it was announced that the NAB Chairman visited the FIA Headquarters to discuss crucial matters.
A few days ago, the NAB sent back references against politicians to accountability courts after the Supreme Court invalidated certain sections of the amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) last year.
It is important to note that the Supreme Court ordered the restoration of corruption cases against public representatives, as it struck down some sections of the amendments made to the country’s accountability laws in the previous coalition government.
In a majority 2-1 verdict, the top court approved the petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, Imran Khan, challenging the amendments made to the country’s accountability laws.
Former CJP Bandial and Justice Ahsan declared Imran’s plea to be maintainable, while Justice Shah disagreed with the verdict.
Following the verdict, references against several prominent politicians will once again be brought to the accountability courts. This includes the Toshakhana reference against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Supremo Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, LNG reference against former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, rental power reference against former Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, and assets beyond means case against former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
In June 2022, the former premier filed a petition with the apex court against amendments made to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance under the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022.
NAB Law Amendment
The NAB (Second Amendment) Bill 2021 states that the NAB’s deputy chairman, appointed by the federal government, would become the acting chairman of the bureau after the completion of the chairman’s tenure.
The bill also reduces the four-year term of the NAB chairman. After the law’s approval, NAB will no longer have jurisdiction over federal, provincial, or local tax matters.
Furthermore, the bill sets a three-year term for the judges of the accountability courts. Under the proposed law, it is mandatory for NAB to ensure the availability of evidence against an accused prior to their arrest.