NAB’s 'uneven arrest policy' draws SC ire

NAB formulating policy for arresting suspects, special prosecutor informs top court

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed took strong exception on Tuesday over the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) decision-making regarding the arrest of accused persons, saying why the graft-buster had not evolved a uniform policy.

During hearing of bail applications of suspects in the Rs170 million Bank of Punjab fraud case, the judge noted that seven people committed fraud but only two were rounded up. “Either all suspects should be held or none of them”, Justice Saeed said.

Heading a two-judge bench, Justice Saeed asked the prosecutor as to who takes the decision regarding the arrest of accused persons. Special Prosecutor NAB Imran ul Haq told the court that NAB was formulating a policy for arresting suspects.



He also informed the court that the final reference in the case would be filed within a month. The bench decided to hear the bail application after filing of the final reference and adjourned the hearing until December 17.

Last month, another Supreme Court judge, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, raised a question as to why NAB was becoming ‘politicised’

During a hearing on October 23, Justice Isa noted that NAB’s policy to investigate corruption cases was not uniform as its conduct in every case is according to its discretion. He added that the anti-corruption watchdog put all its efforts in some cases, while in some other cases, it did not.

Then it will be said that the courts acquitted the accused, Justice Isa said. He mentioned that in one case billions of rupees were recovered from the house of a person but the NAB went for plea bargain. He emphasised that NAB should form a uniform policy for dealing with corruption cases.

Likewise, another Supreme Court judge, Justice Gulzar Ahmad, has asked that whether the NAB had shown any efficiency except for plea bargaining with the accused. He also asked senior NAB officials to point out any case, wherein the department recovered amount.

He lamented that billions of rupees were spent on NAB but nobody knew the fate of matters related to corruption, adding that NAB is creating anguish for everyone.

In September, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said the anti-corruption watchdog was creating lacunae in cases but the courts were blamed for acquittal of accused.



“Don’t defame judges. Judges are not sitting here to clean the dirt of NAB which is busy but doing nothing,” the CJP had told NAB Additional Prosecutor General (APG) Akbar Tarar. He also made it clear that the top court would not tolerate if NAB left lacunae in corruption cases.

What is the point in summoning people in this scenario, the CJP wondered. He asked the APG to cite a single case which reached its logical conclusion in the last seven months. He had ordered the APG to inform the NAB chairman and the prosecutor general to brief him on NAB’s performance in his chamber.

Likewise, the Chief Justice also expressed anger over NAB investigating officers’ misbehavior with accused persons during interrogation.