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| NAB conviction rate drops to a pathetic 23 per cent |
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Monday, November 23, 2009
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The conviction rate of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has dropped from 67 per cent in January 2008 to 23 per cent currently as most of the corruption cases were either withdrawn or the accused persons were acquitted because of ‘silence’ of the prosecutors, data available shows.
After installation of the PPP government in early 2008, the then law minister had ordered the NAB not to proceed forward with any of the pending corruption cases against politicians andpro-PPP bureaucrats and not to register any fresh corruption case which made the NAB, the only accountability organisation of the country, completely impotent.
According to official data available with The News, the conviction rate of the cases in January 2008 was 67 per cent. During 2008, NAB prosecutors remained busy trying to close different corruption cases under the NRO, mostly involving top guns of the present regime.
But because the media had focused only on the NRO, a horrible fact remained concealed. It was the withdrawal of cases and acquittal in some cases without mentioning the NRO by NAB prosecutors.
According to estimates of officials concerned, cases involving corruption of more than Rs 500 billion were either withdrawn or the accused were acquitted because of lack of effort by the prosecution. Some cases were even not considered for an inquiry or investigation.
This was done because some of these cases of friends of top PPP leaders were registered after October 12, 2009 and as such could not be withdrawn through the NRO. According to the latest data available on the NAB’s official website, during the period July to September 2009, only 60 cases were filed in courts in the country.
A total of 113 cases were decided during this period by courts out of which only 27 persons were convicted whereas 52 were acquitted and cases against 34 were withdrawn for different reasons. This data yields a conviction rate of only 23 per cent.
Since its creation, total cases filed by the NAB in courts are 1,593, cases decided 975, convicted 537, acquitted 224 and cases withdrawn 214. This leaves cases in progress to 618. According to this data, the overall conviction rate of the NAB is 55 per cent, which was 67 per cent in Jan 2008. However, the data of last few months shows conviction rate of simply 23 per cent.
NAB’s senior and credible prosecutors, having experience in investigative work and presentation before the courts, including Munir Ahmad Sheikh, Malik Afzal and Qazi Misbah-ul-Hassan, were sent home. The newly-appointed prosecutors had only six months to two years of experience and were mostly political appointees.
Former law minister Farooq H Naek inducted a total of 40 prosecutors during his tenure as law minister. The political masters of the NAB want to misuse clause 31-B of the NAB ordinance. This clause reads: “31-B: The Prosecutor General Accountability may, with the consent of the Court, withdraw from the prosecution of any [accused] person generally or in respect of any one or more of the offences for which he is tried and upon such withdrawal: (i) if it is made before a charge has been framed, the accused shall be discharged in respect of such offence or offences; and (ii) if it is made after a charge has been framed, he shall be acquitted in respect of such offence or offences.”
According to officials concerned if the independent judiciary didn’t intervene in the situation, declaring the NRO ab initio void, from the first day, will be a futile exercise. Concerned NAB officials are worried that the political interference will ruin the process of objective and fair accountability. They have quietly appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to look into this extremely crucial issue before the apex court considers the constitutionality of the NRO. “If the friendly prosecution remained in place, the conviction rate may drop even lower and looters and plunderers will be acquitted, getting a clean chit from the courts,” one official said.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
