Judge wants list of NAB cases to be withdrawn

The judge of an accountability court on Friday sought a list of cases from the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) that needed to be withdrawn or disposed of.

In a letter, Judge Muhammad Bashir has asked NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal about the pending references after amendments to the accountability law.

The amended ordinance has empowered the anti-graft buster chief to withdraw a case and there was no ambiguity in the new law,

The judge wrote that the accused were filing acquittal petitions under the amendment ordinance.

“It would be appropriate to provide a list of cases to be withdrawn so that the time of the court can be saved,” he added.

Last month, President Arif Alvi had promulgated the amended National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 2021.

The ordinance read that its provisions would not be applicable to matters pertaining to federal, provincial or local taxation, other levies or imports -- including refunds or loss of exchequer pertaining to taxation.

“Procedural lapses” in any public or governmental work, project or scheme, unless it is shown that a holder of public office or any other person has been conferred or has received any monetary or other material benefits from that particular public or governmental work, whether directly or indirectly, have also been exempted.