ISLAMABAD: As per order of the the Supreme Court, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has submitted records of references in accountability courts across the country.
In the accountability courts of Islamabad, records of all cases have been submitted. The Registrar’s office has dispatched the list of cases to the accountability courts. Judge Muhammad Bashir remarked that today, truckloads of NAB cases are being submitted.
The staff members of the Accountability Courts 2 and 3 have been called back for duty, as they had been earlier posted to other courts. Judges for Accountability Courts 2 and 3 will be appointed soon. Currently, only Judge Muhammad Bashir is serving in Accountability Court 1.
The courts have instructed the NAB prosecutor to inform private and public officeholders, as well as government employees, about the nature of their cases, specifying which cases fall within NAB’s jurisdiction and which do not.
NAB Prosecutor Sardar Mazhar Abbas responded that all cases will be presented to the courts, and it is imperative to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s decisions.
The accountability courts have directed the Accountability Court Registrar to gather information on recorded cases.
In addition to this, records have been submitted in Rawalpindi’s accountability courts for reopening of 22 corruption references. The NAB prosecutor mentioned that since the Supreme Court has declared the NAB laws amendments null and void, therefore these 22 corruption cases will be reopened, and bail bonds will be revoked, and the accused will be sent back to Adiala Jail.
Meanwhile, in Peshawar, 160 references have been returned to the accountability courts following Supreme Court orders.
NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has written to the Registrar of the Accountability Courts, stating that the return of references to the courts is in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision of September 15, and action within seven days of the Supreme Court’s decision is required.
Furthermore, references from Karachi have also been returned to accountability courts in accordance with the Supreme Court’s orders. Karachi’s Accountability Court No. 4 has received its first reference from Chairman NAB.
Various courts in Karachi had transferred 90 references back to Chairman and other courts. Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Dr. Asim Hussain, MQM leader Syed Mustafa Kamal, former Steel Mill Chairman Moeen Aftab Sheikh, MQM leader Rauf Siddiqui, former Secretary Badar Jameel Mandhro, and former DG KDA Naseer Abbas are among those included in these cases.
It should be noted that after the 2022 amendments to NAB laws, references were sent back to NAB from accountability courts.
In Islamabad’s Accountability Courts, 80 NAB cases have been revived so far. After the scrutiny of 26 NAB references was completed in Islamabad, their records have been compiled.
