ISLAMABAD:
The Senate was told on Tuesday that 618 inquiries, including some that date back as long as a decade, were still pending with the National Accountability Bureau. The house also heard that cases pending for five years or more would be closed as soon as possible.
Senator SM Zafar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid had asked for details of pending cases at the NAB and reasons for the delay.
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Maula Bakhsh Chandio pinned the delays on the thorough process of investigation. The collection of evidence, tracing the movement of corruption money and delayed responses from accused persons and departments are the major causes for setbacks, he said.
The minister said that, following the decision from the 16th Director Generals’ Conference held in January this year, inquiries pending for five or more years are to be decided expeditiously.
According to the year-by-year breakdown of pending cases, 10 are pending from 2000, two each from 2001-2, eight each from 2003-4, 17 from 2005, 24 from 2006, 44 from 2007, 83 from 2008, 150 from 2009, 184 from 2010 and 86 cases from 2011.
In addition, Chandio stated that during Justice (retd) Deedar Hussain Shah’s tenure as chairman of the bureau, “none of the investigations pending against any person has been closed.”
During the discussion, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Nayyer Hussain Bukhari stated that the appointment of the new NAB chief was made following the existing laws of the bureau.
The government has recently appointed Admiral (retd) Fasih Bukhari as chairman of the bureau. However, the appointment was rejected by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and also challenged in the Supreme Court.
To another question from Hafiz Rashid Ahmed, the minister said that the chief election commissioner had appointed 20 election tribunals for the disposal of election petitions relating to the 2008 general elections, the election to the Senate and subsequent by-elections.
He said that of 108 election petitions filed before election tribunals, 27 petitions from the National Assembly and one from the Senate are still pending.
In response to Senator Tariq Azeem’s question seeking justification for doling out money to the legal fraternity by his predecessor Babar Awan, the law minister said that lawyers are a respectable community and no money was given to anyone since he took office.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2011.
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Chandio Sahib, please ask CJ SC to give some rulings on the new NAB chief so that cases against most SHARIF people can be opened.