Law being drafted to restructure Anti-Corruption Establishment

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has prepared the initial draft of a law to restructure the Anti-Corruption Establishment to make it a fully independent, autonomous and specialised body with professional expertise.

The draft law proposes a new nomenclature of the Anti-Corruption Agency for the body having specialised wings of prosecution, finance and audit, information and data, investigation, internal audit and public complaints.

A meeting to review progress on the new legislation was held here with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair.

The meeting was given a detailed briefing on various aspects of the new law.

While agreeing in principle to the draft, the chief minister directed the authorities to finalise the draft in consultation with legal experts, former judges, journalists, political leaders and relevant experts by conducting consultative seminars and workshops to make it more comprehensive.

Underlining the need to make the body fully independent and neutral, he directed the authorities to ensure that no permanent government employee was part of the body in order to make it independent of government.

He termed the complete eradication of corruption in all its forms and manifestations in government departments as top priority of his government, adding that the establishment of a completely independent and impartial body free from government influence was essential for the purpose.

Besides Provincial Law Minister Sultan Mohammad Khan, Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Anti-Corruption Shafiullah Khan, the meeting was attended by Secretary Law, Masood Ahmed, Secretary Establishment Mutahir Zeb, Director Anti-Corruption Establishment Usman Zaman and other officials.

The chief minister directed the authorities concerned to review the relevant laws of other provinces and the federal government as well before finalising the draft. He said that it should be finalised in the minimum possible time period so that the legislation could be tabled in the provincial cabinet and consequently in the provincial assembly for final approval without any further delay.