Govt set to bring key amendments to NAB law as draft ordinance readied

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is set to bring key amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance, 1999 as a draft ordinance has been prepared for the purpose, ARY News reported.

The draft of the National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2020 will be sent to President Dr Arif Alvi for approval.

According to the draft, the NAB chairman will no longer have the powers to authorise the arrest of an accused as relevant court will issue arrest warrants after the corruption watchdog files a reference.

It says the NAB shall not initiate action on allegations levelled in a complaint, which is anonymous or pseudonymous, which do not involve public money, and in which the amount involved is less than five hundred million rupees.

Moreover, a public office holder shall be tried by a court in a province from which he was elected and a person in the service of Pakistan or any statutory body or organization shall be tried in a province where his place of duty is or was located at the time of the commission of the offence.

The draft says the bureau will not act against an elected public representative until there is corroborative evidence that he or she has materially benefitted by gaining any monetary benefit or asset from a private person.

If public office holder or any other person, during enquiry voluntarily comes forward and offers to return the assets or gain acquired or made by him in the course, or as a consequence of any offence under this ordinance, such a person shall cease to hold public office forthwith and shall stand disqualified for a period of five years.

NAB will file only one reference, which shall be treated as the final reference, and no supplementary reference shall be filed thereafter. The bureau will not file any reference or conduct any inquiry or investigation into the past and closed transactions after lapse of 5 years from the date of the transaction.

The post Govt set to bring key amendments to NAB law as draft ordinance readied appeared first on ARY NEWS.

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