Chief Justice terms NAB corruption promoting institution

In what appeared to be a shocking statement by top judge of the country, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) instead of putting a check-out on corruption has turned into a body that promotes it in the country.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Chaudhry resumed proceedings in connection with implementation of orders in Rental Power Project (RPP) case.

NAB Chairman Admiral (Retd) Fasih Bokhari was asked to submit in writing that the body couldn’t take action against influential personalities.

Earlier on March 30, the apex court in its ruling had declared void the agreements in connection with Rental Power Projects and referred the case to NAB with the directives to initiate criminal proceeding against the people found guilty in the case.

The bench had declared the agreements of Rental RPPs illegal and held Ministry of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Ministry of Finance, PEPCO and GENCOS responsible for causing huge losses to national exchequer.

The accountability bureau in its progress report said that those involved in the case wanted to settle the case through plea-bargain.

To this, the apex court admonished the NAB, asking where in its judgment had the court ordered to allow plea-bargain. The arrests should take place first, the SC ordered.

It asked, “Advance money was paid twice for machinery in Naudero plant, isn’t it a criminal negligence? Doesn’t it make a criminal case against the then Minister for Water and Power?”

Chief Justice Chaudhry informed the NAB to stop coming up with its own version of explanations on court’s rulings and to avoid repeatedly misleading the bench.

Regretting that the NAB failed to take even a single step in the past six months, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja said that the institutions were becoming bankrupt but nobody feels any pain. It seems as if all are hand-in-hand in it, he added.

Later, the court directed NAB to submit its report Friday pertaining to implantation of court’s order in the instant case and adjourned the hearing till October 26.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Sep 14 2012. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.