Anti-corruption watchdog: Supreme Court turns down NAB appeals

Appeals filed with NAB chief’s or prosecuter-general’s consent to be accepted.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court is not entertaining National Accountability Bureau’s appeals since the bureau is virtually non-functional in the absence of a chairman and prosecutor-general, officials said on Saturday.

“The apex court had categorically said it will only accept appeals which will be filed with the consent of the NAB chief or prosecutor-general,” said a senior official who did not want to be named.

In light of Section 32 of the NAB Ordinance of 1999, appeals can be filed against high court orders on recommendation of NAB’s prosecutor-general. The NAB chief’s approval is required before filing the appeal.

Director-General (Administration) Col (retd) Khurshid Alam and a legal adviser to the anti-corruption watchdog have no authority to mark appeal to the Supreme Court, he said while citing observation of a three-member bench of the apex court which dismissed an appeal filed by the bureau without the consent of any authority earlier this week. The court also expressed its concern over the government’s inaction in connection with the appointment of NAB chief despite its June 21 verdict.

Meanwhile, the bureau’s legal directorate has apparently stopped filing appeals because lawyers associated with the bureau have refused to prepare cases, according to officials. NAB owed over Rs20 million to the advocates-on-record (AORs) while Rs31.7 million could not be released to the lawyers whose services were hired for filing cases, affected lawyers told The Express Tribune. These cases were reopened after the Supreme Court’s declaration the National Reconciliation Ordinance void ab initio in 2009. To implement the court order law and justice department kicked off the work on cases dropped under the NRO.

Senior AOR SM Khattak, who worked with NAB, said administrative problems within the authority are main hurdles in the way of making payments to the legal experts whose services were hired by the bureau for decades. “I’ve terminated my agreement with the bureau because of the delay in payment,” Khattak said. Dozens of senior AORs are now thinking about suing NAB for non-payment of dues, an AOR said. “For years, we spent money out of our own pockets preparing NAB appeals, but NAB has not paid our dues,” he said, adding the bureau always paid less than the agreed amount.

A spokesperson of the bureau told The Express Tribune that the payment could not be made because of the absence of signing authorities – director general [legal wing] and the prosecutor general. Director General Administration Col (retd) Khurshid Alam is trying to resolve the issues related to the prosecution wing, he added.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2011.