Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is accountable to the taxpayers.

It also observed that if the provisions of the NAB Ordinance are not strictly observed then it becomes another moribund organisation.

“The person who was supposed to safeguard public funds and ensure their proper utilization was himself caught red-handed with an astronomical amount. Under such circumstances the acceptance of the plea bargain (of Mushtaq Raisani) by the Chairman runs counter to the stated object to eradicate corruption and to hold accountable all those persons accused of such practices; instead, the message that emanates from NAB is that, if one surrenders only the amount which was seized he will be let off,” the court said.

These observations are made in a 14-page judgement authored by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, in the bail plea of Balochistan Finance Advisor Khalid Langov. Earlier, in a short order, the court had dismissed Langov’s bail plea.

Farooq Naek, counsel for Langov, had contended that NAB had accepted the plea bargain of co-accused Mushtaq Raisani in alleged corruption of Rs 658,550,424, but no reference had been filed against his client.

NAB Prosecutor General Waqas Dar said that the petitioner was the finance advisor and the chairman of the Local Councils Grants Committee and funds of the municipal committees, including those of Khaliqabad, had been defalcated.

He added that the petitioner had recommended that Khaliqabad be raised to the status of municipal committee, and then earmarked exorbitant amounts for it, adding that he appointed Mushtaq Raisani as secretary.

However, the court in its detailed ruling observed that the NAB chairman did not put forward any other reason to justify the delay in filing the reference.

“Such inordinate delay in filing the reference raises legitimate concerns, particularly in a case of this magnitude, and above all when the objective of the NAB Ordinance is kept in mind,” the judgement said.

Regarding Raisani’s plea bargain, the court observed that a single line of recommendation can hardly be categorized as a decision arrived after independently considering the facts and circumstances of the case.

“The said cache (money and gold) had been seized from the official residence of the accused, however, NAB ‘amazingly’ stated that the accused was “ready to surrender [it] to NAB”, as if he had an option. The Chairman accepted the purported offer of the said cache and, the only properties which may be categorized as having been offered were, the two houses and two vehicles,” the top court observed.

“The law is very clear, the Chairman must exercise his discretion after taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case, as stipulated in section 25 (b) of the NAB Ordinance, but he did not do so,” the judgment stated.

The said cache constituted the largest seizure of embezzled public exchequer funds however this self-evident fact was disregarded, it further stated adding that the Baluchistan’s NAB officials recommended the plea bargain of Raisani without investigation.

The chairman too remained remiss of his responsibility to ensure that his subordinates had fully investigated the case and if their recommendations were well founded, it added.