ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly has passed a bill which does not allow the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe corruption cases involving less than Rs500 million amount.
The bill also authorised the federal government to appoint accountability courts judges instead of President of Pakistan.
According to the bill, “A judge shall be appointed by the federal government after consultation with the chief justice of the high court concerned.”
The bill also makes extendable for three years the service tenure of NAB’s prosecutor general.
The Minister of State for Law and Justice, Shahadat Awan, presented in the National Assembly the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act, 2022, to further amend the law governing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The new bill amended Section 16 of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 (NAO), in which it is stated that an accused would be tried for an offence under the ordinance in the court under whose jurisdiction the offence was committed.
Meanwhile, through another amendment to Section 19E, NAB’s power to allow surveillance with the help of a high court has been withdrawn, including any assistance from government agencies.
“Any person called by NAB to provide information about offence he/she has committed/accused, will be informed of the allegations so that they can file their defence in court,” the bill stated.
Moreover, the NAB chairman will now be able to recommend the termination of a reference before indictment.
A joint session of Parliament had approved the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021, in June.
The lower house passed another bill to amend the Publication Laws Pakistan Act of 2016.
The NAB amendment bill said the prosecutor general’s service can be extended by three years.
The bill suggested that cases against an accused will be tried in the area where the crime is committed.
Under an amendment, NAB will not be allowed to take assistance of any other department for investigation.
