President Alvi signs NAB Amendment Ordinance 2019: sources

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has signed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019 on Friday, ARY News reported.

Sources privy to the development said that the NAB Amendment Ordinance 2019 has come into force from today (December 27).

According to the ordinance, the ant graft watchdog will only be able to pursue corruption cases of worth Rs500mn and above.

NAB cannot freeze the properties of government employees without court order.
If NAB fails to complete investigation against a suspect within three months, the accused will be entitled to bail.
The anti graft watchdog’s jurisdiction over matters relating to imports and levy has been curtailed.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been tasked to act on matters relating to tax, stock exchange and IPOs.

The sources said that the decision has been taken to uplift the level of the governance and business activities in the country.

Earlier on October 22, the federal cabinet had approved amendments in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law 1999 and Benami Transaction Act 2017.

The federal cabinet had met in Islamabad with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.

The meeting had discussed twelve point agenda and had also discussed opposition’s Azadi March. The meeting had been briefed over the recent PM’s visit to Saudi Arabia.

The matters related to current situation in the Indian occupied Kashmir and prices of essential commodities had also been discussed in the meeting.