ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, while hearing former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s petition against the amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, said that corruption in a society is because of failure to access to justice.
Makhdoom Ali Khan, representing the Federation, informed the bench that certain amendments have been made to the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, adding after the approval of the federal cabinet the draft Ordinance has been sent to the president.
He said the additional amendments will have bearing on the bill 2022. He further said that after the return of references by the Accountability Courts, they are parked in the NAB office and now under new changes the power is given to the Accountability Courts instead of the chairman, to send the cases of below Rs500 million to the relevant forums.
Makhdoom said that there are other amendments under consideration, but the government is thinking about whether to bring through an Act of Parliament or the Ordinance.
Justice Bandial remarked that the concerns expressed in the Court have been incorporated into the law. Makhdoom said there will be no exonerating or condoning, but the reference, returned by the Accountability Courts after the enactment of bill 2022 will be sent to the relevant forums.
The chief justice said other countries also have anti-corruption laws, eradicating corruption is considered the right to life, the law of justice. He said: “Corruption in a society is because of failure to access to justice.”
Makhdoom said the Israeli parliament advanced a bill that would make it harder to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over corruption charges. Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power late last year after Israel’s fifth election in under four years. Netanyahu and his allies say the effort is aimed at reining in an activist court. The body was expected to vote later on a measure that would allow the Knesset to overrule Supreme Court rulings and enact laws that had been struck down.
He said the debate on corruption is not peculiar to Pakistan, but it is ongoing. In 1996, the country had the Ehtesab Act, which was used to persecute politicians, while in 1999 National Accountability Ordinance was enacted. He argued that after its promulgation the first case against the law in the Supreme Court was Asfandyar Wali, wherein, the court passed direction to the NAB to carefully proceed in the cases, NAB must address their grievances, and frame the rules.
Makhdoom through a chart, which he made to show a comparison about the amendments made by the PTI government and the PML-N allies’ government, said the petitioner (Imran Khan) was the first who brought changes in the law.
He said the first change, made in NAO 1999, was a convenient way to settle the score, as it said that the persons convicted under the law would not be given above Class C in jail. He said during the tenure of the petitioner substantive changes were made in the NAB law. He took out the number of persons and the transaction from the ambit of the law. The changes in his regime were that inquires shall stand transferred to the relevant authorities, and the matter related to the federal taxation and the levy shall be transferred to the FBR.
The chief justice appreciating the comparison chart said that the bench has benefited from it. However, he said they are looking at those sections which were decriminalised. “We are interested in those sections where the offences were obliterated or modified.”
Makhdoom said that the statute that exists today was from the amendments in 2019, and draw support from the observations of the Supreme Court that retrospection in the law is not unconstitutional.
The case is adjourned until today (Wednesday).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
Comments
Comments are closed.