Supreme Court seeks record of NAB cases scrapped after changes to law

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday summoned the six-month record of NAB cases that were scrapped after amendments were made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) in 1999.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial, heard the appeal of NAB on the cancellation of bail of an accused in a case.

The court also summoned records about cases, which were transferred to the forums concerned after the NAB amendments.

During the hearing, the NAB law officer told the court that the application had become infructuous after the instant corruption case in Quetta, which does not fall under NAB’s jurisdiction.

He pleaded with the court to withdraw the instant appeal against the bail of the accused.

The chief justice said that no accused involved in corruption cases was being acquitted due to the amendments, but cases were being transferred to other forums.

“The NAB amendments have been challenged, and the court is yet to rule on them,” the CJP stated.

The CJP asked the prosecutor about the status of those cases that were being transferred from accountability courts due to the NAB amendments.

The prosecutor replied that a review committee had been constituted for cases transferred from accountability courts, which will be sent to the forums concerned.

The court then requested a record of the previous six months, including full details of the cases sent to the relevant forums, and adjourned further hearings.