Alvi returns NAB law bill to parliament

President Arif Alvi has sent back the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to parliament for reconsideration after observing on Sunday that the amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) were sub judice before the Supreme Court.

According to a news release from the President Secretariat Press Wing, Alvi observed that without considering the implications of a pending matter, further amendments to the NAO, 1999, should be reconsidered.

“This aspect of the legislation is neither referred to in the bill nor in the prime minister’s advice,” Alvi noted, while referring to the advice sent by the prime minister, seeking assent of the president to the bill.

Earlier this month, the parliament passed the bill, aimed at empowering the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairperson to close the inquiries started under any other law.

An interim official report in February had revealed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had put a condition for the review of Pakistan’s anti-corruption framework. The government had agreed to introduce amendments to the NAO and other relevant laws.

As per the bill, all pending inquiries intended to be transferred under sub-section 3 shall be considered by the NAB chief, who will have the authority to close the inquiries started under any other law.

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The anti-graft body chief shall be authorised to refer all such inquiries to the related agency, institution or authority. If NAB is not satisfied with an inquiry, its chief will be authorised to send the case to the court for the approval for the release of the suspect.

Cases decided before the National Accountability Amendment Acts 2022 and 2023 will remain in force. These decisions will remain in effect until they are withdrawn, according to the bill.

Under Section 5 of the NAB Act, further proceedings in all pending inquiries, investigations and trials could only be conducted under the rules of the institutions concerned.

Before the bill, parliament had passed the NAB (Second Amendment) Bill 2021 in its joint sitting in June last year that stripped NAB of its powers to act on federal, provincial or local tax matters. Regulatory bodies were also removed from NAB’s domain.

The bill was returned unsigned by President Arif Alvi before it became the law. However, The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had approached the Supreme Court against the bill.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)