Govt rejects summary seeking end to autonomy of NAB and its chief

• Government rejects summary to end autonomy of NAB. 
• NAB urged govt to declare watchdog as Civil Service Occupational Group.
• Law ministry says by approving summary, NAB will no longer be an autonomous bureau.

The federal government on Monday turned down a summary seeking an end to the autonomy of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and its chairman, Geo News reported.

In its summary, NAB pleaded with the government to declare the anti-graft watchdog as the Civil Service Occupational Group, however, the Ministry of Law rejected the summary saying that NAB and its chairman are more autonomous than the civil service group.

In its letter, the law ministry wrote that by approving the summary, the anti-graft watchdog will no longer be an autonomous institution.

Powers curtailed

In August, the National Assembly passed the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, which sought to exclude private transactions from the scope of NAB.

Under the amended bill, the pecuniary jurisdiction of NAB had been fixed to only take action against mega scandals. Furthermore, it had been proposed that supplementary references can only be filed with the permission of the court to expedite the proceedings of the court within one year.

As per the bill, the investigation officers shall not harass any person during the investigation or inquiry and they will confine their questions relevant to the investigation or inquiry or for extracting evidence.