IHC tells trial court to rehear NAB officials’ plea

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday turned down a decision of a trial court rejecting acquittal pleas of two former director generals of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi and an investigation officer in a reference pertaining to misuse of powers. The court asked the trial court to conduct hearing on acquittal pleas of the accused again.

A division bench, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, announced the decision on petition filed by former director generals of NAB Colonel (retired) Subhu Sadiq Malik, Khursheed Bhandar and former investigation officer Mirza Shafiq.

The court stated that section 36 of the NAB Ordinance stopped actions on any practice done in good intention by the officers. It directed the accountability court to reconsider its decision on acquittal pleas of the three accused after hearing the matter again.

The cases would be admitted as pending before the trial court, it was informed. NAB had prepared a reference against three officers pertaining to misuse of power.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2021.