NAB can arrest accused without informing: Supreme Court

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday while interpreting the powers of arrest granted to National Accountability Bureau (NAB), ruled that the accountability watchdog had authority arrest any accused without informing him/her beforehand, ARY News reported.

A three-member bench consisting of Justice Shaikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Faisal Arab, and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel had heard NAB’s petition against one Syed Jalil Haider.

In the two-page order, the bench ruled that NAB could arrest a person if sufficient material was present to establish the links of the person in question with a crime.

NAB had filed the petition, contending that in a case involving the same respondent Mr Haider in Lahore High Court, the order, particularly its concluding lines, could be misinterpreted as NAB not having a power to arrest an accused without informing him/her first.

The Supreme Court ruled that the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 put no such restriction on NAB, and therefore, the NAB can arrest an accused if it has evidence against the person in question.

The court also noted that it did not expect NAB to misuse its powers and disposed of the petition.