SC seeks report on setting up 120 NAB courts

NAB says ministry already notified to establish 3 more accountability court in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD:

The apex court has asked the Federal Ministry of Law and Justice to submit a detailed report about establishing new accountability courts in the country.

A three-judge bench, presided over by Justice Mushir Alam, issued this order on Tuesday while hearing the bail application filed by Talha Raza, one of the accused in multi-billion rupees fake account case.

The counsel for the petitioner referred to a report submitted to the Supreme Court by an accountability court. According to the report, he said, the accountability court was right now hearing 35 references and the reference filed against his client was 24th in number.

He said the prosecution – the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) – has so far presented three out of the 62 witnesses in the case while the accused has been languishing in jail for over two years. “The documents of the case spread over 72 volume,” he added.

NAB prosecutor Imranul Haq told the bench that the Ministry of Law issued notification for establishing three more accountability courts in Islamabad on January 28. “The courts will soon start to function after the appointment of relevant judges,” he said.

The SC later ordered the law ministry to submit a detailed report on implementing its earlier proposal to form 120 accountability courts in the country for timely disposal of graft cases. The court while also summoning the secretary law adjourned hearing of the case for ten days.

The Supreme Court on July 8, 2020 ordered the federal government to immediately appoint judges at five ‘vacant’ accountability courts while ‘proposing’ to establish at least 120 accountability courts in the country to deal with 1,226 pending cases.

The accountability courts were established under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 to adjudicate corruption references filed by NAB within 30 days.