As suspects seek relief under amended law, NAB says no concession possible.

Byline: Malik Asad

ISLAMABAD -- As a number of suspects facing references of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) are seeking relief under the recently amended NAB law, the anti-graft watchdog has made it clear that the law will not be applied retrospectively.

Therefore, the accused facing pending cases may not get any benefit from amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).

President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 that is mainly aimed at providing relief to the country's businessmen and traders.

Moreover, an amendment to Section 9(a)(vi) of the ordinance redefined the terms 'misuse of authority' by linking them with 'corroborative evidence of accumulation of any monetary benefit'.

A NAB prosecutor during the hearing of a petition filed by Bilal Sheikh - a former president of the Sindh Bank who is an accused in the fake accounts case - argued in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that the presidential ordinance was not meant for giving relief to the suspects of pending cases.

He said that NAB had circulated a letter to all prosecutors as well as its regional directorates which stated that 'under-process cases authorised before the promulgation of the ordinance of 2019 will remain intact till their logical conclusion as the subject ordinance has no retrospective effect'.

Sources in the prosecution said the ordinance had specifically mentioned that pending cases related to taxation shall be transferred from NAB. He said the amendment did not say whether the law could be applied retrospectively to pending cases against bureaucrats and public office holders.

Abdul Ghani Majeed and his wife Minahil...