ISLAMABAD: After noting on Sunday that the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) changes were under appeal before the Supreme Court, President Arif Alvi remitted the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to parliament for reconsideration.
Alvi said that additional revisions to the NAO, 1999, should be reevaluated without taking the repercussions of an ongoing situation into account, according to a press statement from the President Secretariat Press Wing.
Alvi alluded to the advise issued by the prime minister asking the president to ratify the measure and said, "This aspect of the legislation is neither referred to in the bill nor in the prime minister's advice."
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairperson will now be able to end any investigations that were launched as a result of any other law, thanks to a measure that the parliament approved earlier this month.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had placed a need for the evaluation of Pakistan's anti-corruption system, according to an interim official report released in February. The government had consented to alter the NAO and other pertinent statutes.
The NAB head, who would have the authority to close the probes launched under any other legislation, is required under the bill to review any open inquiries that are intended to be transferred under sub-section 3.
The head of the anti-graft body is empowered to report any such questions to the relevant agency, institution, or authority. If an investigation leaves NAB unsatisfied, its head is empowered to request that the court grant permission for the suspect's release.
The National Accountability Amendment Acts of 2022 and 2023 will not affect cases that were already determined. The bill provides that these rulings shall be final unless rescinded.
According to Section 5 of the NAB Act, all ongoing inquiries, investigations, and trials could only proceed in accordance with the regulations of the institutions involved.
Prior to the law, the NAB (Second Amendment) law 2021 was enacted by parliament in a joint session in June of last year, robbing the NAB of its authority to take action on issues relating to municipal, state, or federal taxes. Regulatory organisations were likewise excluded from the NAB's purview.
Prior to becoming law, President Arif Alvi sent the bill back unsigned. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has, however, appealed the law to the Supreme Court.
