The National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was returned to Parliament on Sunday by President Dr. Arif Alvi, who claimed that earlier revisions to the accountability laws were pending before the Supreme Court (SC).
The opposition-designated “part two of NRO-2″ bill earlier this month had breezed through the Senate without being referred to the relevant standing committee. The National Assembly had already approved the bill, which Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar introduced in the Senate amidst opposition from PTI senators. The government’s proposed legislation from March not only gives the NAB chairman the authority to refer graft cases involving corruption of less than Rs. 500 million to the appropriate agency, authority, or department, but it also ends the ongoing investigations where they think no case is made out.
The President’s Office said: “The president sent back the bill to Parliament under Article 75 (president’s assent to bills) of the Constitution.”
Stating the reason for returning the bill, President Alvi stated that previous amendments to the NAB law were already under hearing in the Supreme Court.
“This aspect has not been addressed in the bill and the prime minister’s advice,” he said.
The president asserted that further amendments to the accountability laws “without reviewing the effects of a pending matter should be reviewed once again”.
The National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2023 sought amendments to several sections of the NAB Ordinance, among which those to sections 4 and 6 stand out the most.
An amendment to section 4 of the NAB law states: “If the chairman is satisfied that no case is made out against an accused and the investigation may be closed, he shall refer the matter to the Court for approval and for the release of the accused, if in custody.
“Where the chairman is of the opinion that prima facie case is made out against an accused under any other law for the time being in force, he shall refer the matter to the relevant agency, authority or department, as the case may be,” it further states.
Under a provision added to Section 6 of the NAB Ordinance, as and when the office of the NAB chairman falls vacant or when the chairman is absent or unable to perform the functions of his office — due to any action whatsoever — the deputy chairman shall act as the NAB chairman and in absence of deputy chairman, the federal government shall appoint an acting chairman from amongst the senior officers of NAB.
The bill further says that due to the amendments made to the NAB law last year, “some legal complications have arisen for transfer of those cases from the accountability courts to other courts, tribunals, and forums which do not fall within the domain or jurisdiction of the NAB Ordinance”.
“On the initiative of the Prosecutor General Accountability and after having the input of relevant stakeholders, certain further amendments in the NAB Ordinance are required to be made urgently to provide legal cover to the accountability courts for transfer of aforesaid cases”, reads the statement of objects and reasons of the bill.
