NAB’s repute in tatters

Comment

ISLAMABAD: Repute, if there was any left, of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is in tatters as the Lahore High Court (LHC) within a fortnight first demolished NAB’s Saaf Pani case and now trashes Bureau’s Ashiana case.

For PTI government these developments may not be really exciting but it’s high time for the ruling party and its leaders to understand that if the Bureau can do it to others, it can do the same to them. It’s only the question of timing.

It’s high time either to abolish the NAB or restructure it in order to ensure that it becomes an effective anti-corruption body instead of a tool being used time and again for political victimisation or in the making and breaking of political parties and governments.

Last two decades are witness to repeated failures of the NAB to prove its cases, particularly those involving politicians, in the court of law. Instead there have been certain cases where the Bureau helped influential accused get acquitted through its friendly prosecution.

The NAB made cases and filed references against dozens of politicians since its inception. However, there is hardly any case where any politician is convicted by the accountability court and it is upheld by the high court and the Supreme Court.

Those convicted by the accountability courts are generally acquitted either at the high court level or by the Supreme Court. This situation on one hand speaks volumes about the standard of trial courts, on the other it shows the mala fide or incompetence of the NAB.

Generally, the NAB’s “success stories” pertain to cases of plea bargain and voluntary return where the accused are picked and arrested, kept in NAB’s custody, and allowed to get free if they agree to return “looted” money. These tactics have worked in many cases involving bureaucrats, mostly junior officials, and businessmen. However, in rare cases politicians (mostly not much known) returned looted money either under plea bargain scheme or through voluntary return legal option.

Interestingly, no one in politics is satisfied with what the NAB has been doing. Supreme Court as well as High Courts have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the NAB many a time. However, yet there is no institutional check on NAB. The Bureau has also never been held accountable for its wrongdoings, which even have been admitted by some of its past chairmen.

Only recently, the Lahore High Court in the Saaf Pani case had noted that NAB in this case had proceeded “mala fidely”, and held that there was no violation of rules or allegations of corruption, commission or kickback against the accused.

It was nothing less than a chargesheet against those in the NAB who made this case. However, the LHC’s incriminating note against NAB fell on deaf ears as there is no action taken against the responsible.

Now Shahbaz Sharif, who was arrested by NAB in Ashiana scandal four months back, got bail from the Lahore High Court which has yet to issue its detailed judgment. The judgment is expected to be an interesting reading on NAB like the court’s order in Saaf Pani case but the fundamental question remains who will correct that wrongs of NAB.