SC restores NAB amendments

ISLAMABAD: Supreme court of Pakistan on Friday accepting the intra court appeals of the federal government has restored the amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).

The CJP-led larger bench, comprising Justices Athar Minallah, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Hasan Azhar Rizvi,had reserved the verdict on June 6 on multiple appeals filed by the federal and provincial governments against the apex court’s September 15 verdict.

A five member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan reversed an earlier decision against amendments to the National Accountability Bureau laws, declaring the amendments acceptable.

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The judgment was given by a majority of 5-0 by a bench headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa with Justice Athar Minallah writing an additional note as well.

The federal and provincial governments had filed intra-court appeals against the declaration of the NAB amendments as unconstitutional.

The court had previously declared the amendments null and void in a 2-1 majority decision on an appeal filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

NAB AMENDMENTS

Under the amendments, the NAB was restricted to investigate into any graft case worth less than Rs500 million besides curtailing the accountability body’s powers to probe into a fraud case unless its victims are more than 100.

It also modified the NAB law to keep an accused in its custody for a maximum of 14 days which was later exceeded to 30 days.

Moreover, the amendments barred the anti-corruption watchdog from taking action on federal, provincial or local tax-related matters.