Govt decides giving more powers to NAB chairman

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to give more powers to the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and approved the amendments to the NAB law, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Following the amendments, non-admissible cases can be referred to the concerned forums from the accountability courts. The NAB chairman will be given the power to review the non-admissible cases.

Moreover, the NAB chief will be granted powers to close the cases. The concerned institution will be having the power to collect fresh evidence after receiving a case from the anti-corruption watchdog.

The draft amendments also included restrictions on transferring a case from a court in one area to another court. In the absence of the NAB chief, the deputy chairman will be allowed to exercise the same powers.

In the absence of the deputy chairman, the Centre will hand over responsibility to a senior officer of the anti-graft watchdog.

A few days ago, Lt General (retired) Nazir Ahmad was notified National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman for two years.

The establishment division issued a notification of Lt. General (R) Nazir Ahmad’s appointment as National Accountability Bureau chairman.

The development came days after Aftab Sultan resigned as the National Accountability Bureau chairman citing personal reasons.