Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said that his government has insulated the buisness community with the new National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance and “even his friends would be happy with the new law as there were anti-graft cases against them as well”.
Addressing ‘Top 25 Companies Awards’ by Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the premier said:
After the changes in the NAB laws, several journalists and political analysts on social media are terming the ammendment as “NRO plus” and asking if PM Imran “is trying to save his corrupt friends”.
Another journalist asked if NAB would no longer be allowed to probe Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal in the sports complex corruption case as he was a government employee back then and used federal funds.
The federal cabinet on Friday had given its approval to the NAB Ordinance, 2019 after which the accountability watchdog will no longer be allowed to take action against government employees.
The new ordinance also states that the property of government employees cannot be frozen without a court order and if NAB cannot complete an investigation against a suspect within three months, the accused will be allowed to have bail.
Moreover, NAB will now only be able to proceed in corruption cases worth Rs500 million and more.
In addition, NAB’s jurisdiction over matters relating to tax, stock exchange and IPOs has been curtailed and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBR), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and building control authorities will be the sole authorities tasked to take actino on all such matters.
