ISLAMABAD: The draft of amendments to be made in the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) prepared by the federal Law Ministry has been circulated among all stakeholders to get their input for its improvement.
“The draft has been sent to the ministries and divisions and other stakeholders for their suggestions and opinion,” a senior official, privy to the process, told The News. He said the Law Ministry would act further on the draft after getting the contributions, if any.
Although Federal Law Minister Barrister Dr Farogh Nasim has hinted that a presidential ordinance will be issued to enforce the amendments, if there is no consensus with the opposition, there seems to be no hurry on the part of the government to insert the changes in the NAO.
The official said that the draft would also be sent to the opposition parties so that they can see and discuss it with the government to evolve a consensus. However, an opposition leader said they have not yet received the package.
The reported draft says an accused will be released on bail if an inquiry under the NAO is not concluded within three months; accountability courts will be conferred the power of entertaining and deciding pre-arrest and after-arrest bail applications, and the acceptance of a plea bargain (PB) and voluntary return (VR) will lead to disqualification of public office holder to hold office or employment for a period of 10 years or any other period.
It further says private entities or citizens that are directly and indirectly unconnected with a public office holder will be excluded from the purview of NAO; and a threshold of Rs500 million may be introduced. The valuation of immovable properties will be reckoned either as per the DC [Deputy Commissioner] rate or the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) rate, whichever is higher.
The amendments also say civil servants’ lapses will not be categorised as offences and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will not take cognizance of offences based on procedural slips unless there is evidence corroborating that the officer has materially benefited from such a decision or lapse; an underlying criminal intent and action resulting in an illegal or unjustifiable increase in the assets of a government servant will be cognizable; a bureaucrat’s assets will not be frozen solely on account of a belief that he committed an offence and his property will be frozen once he has been convicted by court; and NAB’s jurisdiction on tax matters and stock markets will be scrapped.
After the official amendments were informally floated apparently for public debate, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and former Law Minister Farooq H Naek moved a private member’s bill in the Senate, suggesting multiple changes in the NAO.
However, there are some identical amendments to the bill and the government’s draft. One of them pertained to empowering accountability court to grant pre-and post-arrest bail. The official proposal also says an accused will be released on bail if an inquiry under the NAB law is not concluded within three months.
Another similar amendment related to the introduction of a threshold of alleged corruption of Rs500 million that the NAB will be authorised to investigate so that it is halted from looking into petty malpractices and irregularities. Yet another similar proposal was concerned with PB and VR. The official amendment said that the PB and VR will lead to disqualification of public office holder to hold office or employment for a period of 10 years or any other period. The Naek proposal said that the concept of PB and VR will be made in line with modern jurisprudence of the superior courts. It will be carried out through court and a person availing it would not contest election but would not be jailed.
The PPP leader also proposed that powers of arrest be taken away from the NAB chairman/officials, who will not be authorised to order detention at all, let alone for 90 days. There is no need of custodial investigation as the probe can be carried out and a person can be questioned in the NAB office without being detained overnight. Custodial investigation is against freedom and right of life of a person.
Another Naek suggestion is that people will be presumed innocent until proven guilty in cases of illegal gratification which is the cardinal principle of criminal jurisdiction and doctrine that a person is innocent until proven guilty; only those public office holders will be prosecuted who have assets which are the outcome of corruption and corrupt practices and not otherwise.
A person will only be answerable to questions posed with reference to specific allegations against him. There will be no fishing expedition or roving inquiry and asking questions which violate the Constitution that stipulates that no one can be forced to make statement against his own self.