NAB chief defends plea bargain in Balochistan corruption case

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has defended the decision of NAB Executive Board of accepting the plea bargaining of over Rs2 billion of ex-finance secretary Balochistan Mushtaq Ahmad Raisani along with Sohail Majeed Shah, contractor and frontman of Khalid Lango, ex-adviser to CM Balochistan for finance. "The perception that plea bargaining is a mean to pardon and give a clean chit to corrupt people and thieves is not correct but in fact a plea bargaining is acceptance of a crime and a punishment in which all the actions of punishment were taken except sending to a jail," he said in an special meeting with the The News.

Qamar Zaman Chaudhry explained that if any government official was proved to be corrupt and opted for plea bargaining, he is not only dismissed from his job but also cannot be eligible for any government job for lifetime. He said if any public office holder makes a plea bargain then the accused disqualifies for 10 years from taking any public office and contesting elections and if any businessman makes a plea bargain then he faces bane to make any public dealing and was not allowed to open any account in any bank.