NAB to focus on mega corruption cases only: Farogh

ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Farogh Naseem on Wednesday confirmed that the government is going to amend the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws, adding that after these amendments, government servants who make plea bargain with NAB would not be able to continue their jobs.

Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Parliamentary Secretary for Law Maleeka Bukhari, Farogh Naseem said the NAB should not have the power to intervene in cases of personal conflicts.

“The NAB is established to curb mega corruption and it should focus on such cases only,” he said, adding that after the amendments, people arrested under the NAB laws would be able to get bail from trial courts instead of high courts.

Farogh Naseem said as agreed by the federal cabinet a day earlier, NAB laws would also be amended with regard to its powers to take action against businessmen and companies as the accountabilitywatchdog, according to him, should be stripped of these powers.

“If the tax evading businessman has no links with government, then his case would be looked into by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), not NAB,” he said. The minister said the prime minister, his cabinet and NAB chairman all agree that NAB laws should be amended.

Farogh Naseem said the government has taken effective measures for provision of speedy justice to people and for that purpose the Ministry of Law has drafted various recommendations for amendments in laws.

“The Law Division has drafted various bills including Letter of Administration and Succession Certificate, Women Enforcement Bill, Legal and Justice Authority Bill, Service Tribunal and many other laws,” he said.

The minister said the government has also approved various laws including Financial Supplementary Act 2019, Elections Act 2019 and Finance Act. He said various laws are implemented through presidential ordinance, including the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Ordinance 2019, Assets Declaration Ordinance, Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Ordinance, National Counter Terrorism Authority Ordinance and others.

He disclosed that the cabinet committee for law and justice held 12 meetings in this term and decided over 83 pending cases regarding various bills after consulting the stakeholders. He said for the first time, the Ministry of Law has put over 844 laws at its website, which can be approached by any citizen.

“The PTI government has appointed 29 judges and nine special courts and tribunals for speeding up the provision of justice procedure,” he added.

He said civil suits will be disposed of within one and a half years and inheritance certificate will be available within 15 days. He said the Supreme Court has asked to end the plea bargain and the government supports it. He said the government will see how this order is implemented.

Firdous Ashiq Awan said the people of Pakistan gave mandate to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for a change in status quo as they want to get rid of the issues related to obsolete and rotten legal system.

“The people of Pakistan voted for the PTI to bring revolutionary changes in the prevailing system and time has come to share with the media and the nation how much justice the government has done with this issue in one year,” she said.