NAB:
As a result of the NAB statute modifications, the responsibility courts, where formerly the most powerful individuals were tried, have begun returning bribery referrals to the NAB chairperson since the suspected couldn’t longer be tried since the court system lack monetary competence in the matters.
Approximately 50 corrupt practices citations have already been returned since the changes were made, according to court and NAB sources.
These references included anyone who is against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his son Hamza Shehbaz, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, and many others, as the situations involve sums just under Rs500 million.
In addition to limiting the anti-graft watchdog’s legal jurisdiction, the administration has made significant revisions to the transparency laws.
Following the law’s amendment, corruption cases with a value of less than Rs 500 million are no longer covered by the watchdog’s purview.
Judge Muhammad Bashir of Islamabad’s accountability court ruled in one of his rulings on dismissing a fraud case brought against Senator Saleem Mandviwalla and others that because of the lack of jurisdiction, even no verdict of guilt or other can be pronounced on cases submitted for a pardon of the defendants.
In the Mandviwalla case, Judge Bashir, who had presided over the prosecution of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his immediate family in the Panamagate case, wrote in the ruling that the authority of this court is ejected via alteration made in the description of offense through the Public Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022 by stating the amount not just under 500 million rupees for the infraction.
Judge Muhammad Sajid Ali of a Lahore accountability court ruled that this has no authority to further proceed with the prosecution of this case/reference, thus, the matter is transferred to Chairman NAB for bringing it before the appropriate venue.
According to the court judgement, PM Shehbaz issued a decree and sanctioned a sullage carrier while serving as the chief minister of Punjab at the time, aiding, abetting, and conspiring with his accuser and companion Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, the former CEO and director of Ramzan Sugar Mills Ltd.
According to the judge’s ruling, NAB claimed that the goal was to give their family’s Ramzan Sugar Mills a wealthy disposal method so they could profit financially while causing a loss of Rs213 million to the public purse.
The judge decided that the court dismissed the application to continue due to the most recent modifications.
As a result of the reforms, 95% of NAB cases have stopped, according to PTI leader Dr. Babar Awan, who commented on the issue. He claimed that this kills the idea of transparency.
Awan said that “NRO-2” had provided relief for those charged with being engaged in allegations of corruption worth around Rs 2400 billion.
Electoral organizations have traditionally used the graft cases of rivals for purely political reasons in Pakistan, where corruption trials have long dominated the political landscape.
Every now and then, the slogan greater transparency for all” pops up, but it quickly fades away as the nation continues to decline on the worldwide corruption perceptions index.
