Govt stops short of scrapping plea bargain, voluntary return

ISLAMABAD: An important just-promulgated amendment in the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) has made punishment very stringent for those availing the plea bargain and voluntary return luxuries but both the extraordinary facilities have been retained for the corrupt lot in the statute, writes Tariq Butt.

The most infamous plea bargain agreement that triggered a huge public cry, causing denunciation of lawmakers for nonchalance and bringing embarrassment to the government, is exempted from the new law because it will not be applied retrospectively. Former Finance Secretary of Balochistan Mushtaq Raisani and contractor Sohail Majeed Shah were the beneficiaries of this arrangement according to which they are to return over Rs2 billion to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and walk out of prison.

Now, a person benefiting from the plea bargain or voluntary return, merged into one offence, will face a lifetime disqualification to hold public office. He will be deemed to be convicted. A government servant will stand instantly dismissed. The latest amendment makes no difference between the two categories of facilities as against earlier provisions.

Previously, a major difference in the treatment meted out under NAO to those availing the voluntary return and plea bargain was that the first set of people used to pay back the agreed corruption gains and go back to their official posts if they are civil servants. They faced no conviction or disqualification to hold or to be elected to a public office and were also not sacked from civil service.

But in the case of plea bargain, the accused, if he is a government servant, stood dismissed from service and disqualified to hold public office for a period of ten years, and not for life. Earlier, the voluntary return was applicable prior to authorization of investigation by the NAB against the accused while the plea again was invoked after the authorization of investigation, before or after the commencement of the trial or during the pendency of appeal if the accused agrees to return the ill-gotten gains.

The NAB’s agreement with Raisani caused immense public furore and resentment and vociferous calls were made to scrap the facilities of plea bargain and voluntary return. It was argued that these luxuries are encouraging corrupt elements to commit the crime and go scot-free if caught after returning money.

Even now, the government has not scrapped the two facilities and retained them in the NAO for its own reasons. It is believed that this has been done to avoid litigation and get the corruption money back from the offenders through these agreements under the law.

For a change the government has reacted quickly to assuage universal condemnation of the NAO and provided for harsh punishment for those benefiting from the plea bargain and voluntary return arrangements.

Before the government did so, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani directed the 12-member Committee on Law and Justice to review, look into section 25-A of NAO and submit its report to the Upper House on Jan 9 when the Senate resumes its new session. Prior to this direction, Rabbani had stated in an open letter that the current system of accountability has failed to curb corruption, and suggested to establish a Federal Commission for Accountability (FCA) to deal with the menace. "I am using this tool of communication, which is not very common, due to the constraints of my constitutional office. This system of accountability has fallen apart wherein any attempt to amend the existing system, in patchworks, will not work. All anti-corruption agencies, including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), NAB and anti-corruption establishments (ACEs) have failed to yield desired results.”

He also stated that there was a strong perception that the NAB was only tightening noose around petty suspects, ignoring mega-corruption cases. Therefore, the creation of a statutory/independent body to oversee all aspects of corruption is need of the hour. He unveiled the roadmap for the proposed FCA, and said that with its inception, all other parallel forums of accountability should cease to exit. Forums for disciplinary actions and other related matters for persons belonging to judiciary, armed forces and bureaucracy will remain functional. However, accountability will be the exclusive domain of the FCA.