Abandon luxurious lifestyle, SC urges rulers

Supreme Court Justice Dost Muhammad calls for appointment of honest officers in all institutions

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has appealed to the ruling elite to give up their extravagant lifestyle and redress the grievances of the poor through their riches. The appeal was made as part of a ruling issued on a bail matter.

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Supreme Court Justice Dost Muhammad, who authored the five-page judgment in Urdu, said that corruption had penetrated every institution and sector of the country.

In order to control this menace, it is vital that investigation officers of all anti-corruption bodies, particularly the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should be imparted special skills and training.

The court ruled that all anti-corruption departments and courts should play an active role in eradicating the menace for good.

“We have … noticed that special courts and appellate courts acquit the accused, because many lawyers and prosecutors do not have proper knowledge of financial laws.”

The judgment stated that according to the provisions of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, it was the responsibility of an accused to prove his innocence. The trial and appellate courts in view of particular circumstances needed to play their role in delivering judgments after carefully examining laws to get rid of corruption.



The judgment also stated that “honest officers have to be appointed in all institutions established to curb corruption”.

“It is also necessary to give them special training and skills. It is the responsibility of the heads of these anti-corruption institutions to monitor the performance of investigative officers and prosecutors in handling such cases.”

The court observed that in most corruption cases, the accused escaped punishment by giving some portion of the embezzled money to the investigation officers and prosecutors.

The judgment stated if endemic corruption was not controlled, it would ruin the entire country’s economic, financial and social fabric.

The judgment stated that if the government did not work on poverty alleviation and eradicating unemployment, poor people would be compelled to commit suicide, which was in no way beneficial to the state.

The three-member bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, had reserved the judgment on the bail application on June 17 this year.

Imran Mohsin, an accused had filed an appeal against the Islamabad High Court’s verdict. Mohsin was arrested by NAB for embezzling money in the purchase of urea fertiliser from the National Institute of Fertiliser. The court rejected the bail application.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2016.