Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit its response to a petition filed by former secretary of the religious affairs department challenging its authority to investigate the cases involving an amount less than Rs 100 million.

A division bench, headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, directed the NAB’s prosecutor to submit its replies by June 20.

Badar Jameel Mandhro, who is facing a graft case related to illegal appointments and corruption in the minorities’ affairs department, petitioned the high court questioning the NAB’s powers to investigate the cases involving an amount of less than Rs 100 million.

In the petition, he contended that the Supreme Court had held that the NAB had jurisdiction to investigate the corruption cases involving an amount more than Rs100m. However, he said, NAB was investigating the cases involving a small amount.

The superior court had observed that NAB had usurped the jurisdiction of the Federal Investigation Agency and anti-corruption establishment, thus damaging the objective of the NAB Ordinance 1999, he added

The petitioner’s counsel argued that the NAB had no jurisdiction to investigate the cases against him as it involved an amount less than the set limit and requested the court to order the transfer of the cases pending against them to anti-corruption establishment, Sindh.

Earlier on June 8, the SHC bench had granted post-arrest bail to Mandhro against a surety of Rs1 million in a case relating to illegal appointments and corruption in the minorities’ affairs department.

Published in Daily Times, June 23rd, 2017.