PTI govt defangs NAB through ordinance.

Byline: Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government made drastic changes in the country's accountability law - the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 - through a presidential ordinance promulgated on Friday that would benefit not only politicians from across the aisle but also bureaucrats as well as the business community.

The new ordinance - The National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 - has made the National AccountaAbility Bureau (NAB) a 'toothless' body since now it can only take up cases involving corruption or corrupt practices exceeding an amount of Rs500 million.

The latest amendments have hit the core of the accountability law that was first promulgated by then military dictator retired Gen Pervez Musharraf soon after ousting then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a coup in 1999.

The powers of NAB have been curtailed keeping in view frequent complaints of the bureaucracy and the business community.The two groups had complained that due to NAB's actions, bureaucrats, businessmen and industrialists had suffered a lot, with the result that officials became reluctant to sign files and businessmen were unwilling to make any investment or take new initiatives.

Speaking at an event in Karachi, Prime Minister Imran Khan said the new ordinance, promulgated by President Arif Alvi, will 'insulate the business community' from the scrutiny of anti-graft watchdog.

'NAB had become a major hurdle in the way of the business community,' he said, adding: 'It is our contention that NAB should engage in scrutiny of public office holders only. For the business community, there is the FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) and other institutions as well as courts.'

According to some amendments, the role of the NAB chairman in the appointment of the prosecutor general has been abolished; the anti-graft body cannot make a public statement at the stages of inquiry and investigation; it no longer can get the custody of a suspect for 90 days as the period has been curtailed to 14 days; burden of proof that previously rested on a suspect now lies on the prosecution.

Also, a time period for completion of an inquiry - six months - was inserted in the law through an amendment with another clause has bound NAB that it could not reopen an inquiry/investigation on a complaint once it was completed.

For the protection of bureaucrats, a six-member scrutiny committee comprising the NAB chairman, cabinet and establishment secretaries...