SC extends deadline to amend plea bargain provision

Senator Farooq Naek apprised the bench that the Senate panel was working on the amendments

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday granted respite to the country’s top anti-graft body to amend the National Accountability Ordinance's (NAO) plea bargain provision till the first week of February, Express News reported.

During the hearing, Senator Farooq Naek apprised the bench that the parliamentary committee is working to amend the NAB law and requested that the apex court grant more time to the panel.



Hearing the arguments, Justice Azmat Saeed extended the deadline and also stressed that “judicial measures are essential to curb crime over administrative orders and that plea bargains are confessions instead".

In November, the apex court proposed two amendments to the top accountability watchdog's ordinance of 1999 which governs the operation of the top anti-graft watchdog.



In 2017, NAO's voluntary return and plea bargain deals came under criticism. Former senator Farhatullah Babar raised a point regarding reviewing Section 25 of the NAO, which deals with two settlement options. A press release, on the occasion, stated that Babar opined that the ordinance was used for political re-engineering and there should be no sacred cows if the law is to be reviewed.