Govt to revoke president's powers to remove NAB chairman: sources

• Government has decided to amend NAB ordinance, sources say.
  
• Sources add that govt will give power to remove NAB chairman back to Supreme Judicial Council.
• President was earlier given power to remove NAB chairman.

The government has decided to introduce an amendment in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance and through it revoke the president's power to remove the anti-corruption watchdog's chairman, sources told Geo News on Wednesday.

The government has decided to amend the National Accountability (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, in the parliament which took the power of removing the NAB chairman from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and vested it in the president, the sources said.

President promulgates ordinance

The ordinance came into force on Monday after President Arif Alvi signed off on it. The amendments, however, will be deemed to have taken effect from Oct 6, 2021, The News reported.

NAB would hear all cases of fraud from October 6 as per the amended ordinance, while old cases of fake accounts would continue as before, the publication said.

The issuance of the NAB ordinance created ambiguity in the NAB rules, after which the law ministry formed a committee to explain the ordinance.

In the promulgated ordinance, cases of fraud, deception, and Modaraba have been given back to NAB.

Clause 2 (b) of the ordinance states: “Provided that notwithstanding, anything contained in any provision of ordinance, all proceedings including inquiries, investigations, references, or trials commenced under this ordinance, prior to the 6th of October 2021, in relation to offence under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010 (VII of 2010), shall be dealt in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance, which existed prior to the 6th day of October, 2021: Provided further that in relation to any proceedings, including reference or trial covered by the first proviso above, the courts under this ordinance shall have jurisdiction to enforce the Anti-Money laundering Act 2010 (VII of 2010).

No relief to Zardari, Abbasi, Shahbaz

The NAB ordinance would not provide any relief to former president Asif Ali Zardari, former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, according to The News. All money laundering cases and proceedings will continue as before.

The term of office of the NAB chairman will be 4 years while the removal of the NAB chairman will have the same ground of removal a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The NAB court has also been given the power to fix bail under the Third NAB Amendment Ordinance "provided that where the accused person is released on bail, the amount of surety shall be fixed in the manner just and fit by the court".

As per the ordinance, evidence should be recorded in a traditional manner till the installation of electronic devices.