“The Constitution has given the president immunity inside and outside the country,” said National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari on Wednesday.
“The decision, however, would be taken by the apex court but in my personal opinion, the president enjoys immunity,” Bokhari said while talking to reporters.
Asked if the documents related to Swiss cases were in possession of the army or NAB, Bokhari said the documents were in the bureau’s possession, and were safe.
Rental power cases
The accountability chief said that there was a provision in the NAB Ordinance regarding plea bargains, but that stage has not been arrived at yet in the rental power plants (RPP) case.
He said that NAB was working on implementation of the Supreme Court decision on RPPs and had already cautioned authorities not to transfer accounts of the companies involved in the case.
The bureau had also requested the interior minister to place the names of all those found guilty in the RPP case on the Exit Control List (ECL), he said.
The chairman described weak regulatory regime and involvement of federal secretaries as major causes of corruption in the country and said the bureau would root out corruption through legislative and fiscal means.
He added that there were two cases of corruption related to the military, involving the National Logistics Cell and Railways.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2012.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ