Too late: NAB appeals thrown out for being time barred

As many as 20 acquittal appeals filed by the chairman of the NAB have been dismissed by the SHC for being time barred

KARACHI: As many as 20 acquittal appeals filed by the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were dismissed by the Sindh High Court (SHC) for being time barred.

On Monday, the bench — comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Imam Bux Baloch — took up all the appeals, between the numbers eight to 23, filed in 2009 by the NAB chairman. Through a short common order, the bench dismissed all appeals on the ground that they were not filed within the time stipulated for filing an appeal as per accountability laws. The detailed order will follow. The NAB chairman filed these appeals against the acquittal of accused men, who were booked and tried on different charges including corruption and corrupt practices, amassing wealth worth billions of rupees.

One of the cases was of a retired Superintendent Police Choudhry Nazar Muhammad. The prosecution alleged that Muhammad joined police service in 1959 as an Assistant Sub Inspector and retired in 1998 as superintendent.

The NAB reference contained a list of moveable and immoveable assets of the accused alleging that he gathered wealth worth over Rs515 million in bank accounts, properties and agricultural land. This wealth does not match Muhammad’s known income, the chairman had claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2011.