NAB submits more references to accountability court

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has submitted fifteen more references to the accountability court after examining the legal details.

The Registrar of the Accountability Court and NAB Prosecutor appeared in the court of Judge Muhammad Bashir and informed the court about the legal aspects of the references, the state news agency reported.

After checking the legal aspects, the judge issued to the parties of references.

On Friday, The NAB Chairman Lt. General (Rtd) Nazir Ahmad and FIA Director General Mohsin Hassan Butt met to strategize improved cooperation and coordination in accountability, investigations, and organizational capacity building.

In a statement posted on social media platform X, it was announced that the NAB Chairman visited the FIA Headquarters for discussions on crucial matters.

A few days ago, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sent back references against politicians to accountability courts after Supreme Court struck down some sections of the amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) last year.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Supreme Court ordered restoration of corruption cases against public representatives as it struck down some sections of the amendments made to the country’s accountability laws last year by the previous coalition government.

In a majority 2-1 verdict, the top court approved Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s petition challenging amendments made to the country’s accountability laws.

Former CJP Bandial and Justice Ahsan declared Imran’s plea to be maintainable while Justice Shah disagreed with the verdict.

Following the verdict, the references against some of the country’s political bigwigs will once again land in the accountability courts.

These include the Toshakhana reference against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Supremo Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, LNG reference against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, rental power reference against former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and assets beyond means case against former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

In June 2022, the former premier moved the apex court against amendments made to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance under the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022.