NAB to review pre-2005 pending cases News

pk geo news

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday took some vital decisions to augment and boost the overall administration and facilitate conduct of inquires, investigations and filing of references on fast track, a spokesman for the NAB said.

It was decided that the accused in a case be arrested after due verification on merit and case-to-case basis at the stage of inquiry. It was also decided that an effective strategy would be devised to arrest the proclaimed offenders.

These decisions were taken in a meeting chaired by Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Syed Deedar Hussain Shah here at the NAB Headquarters. It was agreed to hold a video conference fortnightly between the HQ and regions to expedite the processing of cases and to save time and money. The meeting decided to change the name of the Oversees Wing to the International Cooperation Wing.

In order to clear the backlog, the meeting decided to review all the cases pending before 2005 by a committee in the EBM at the region headed by the DG concerned, representatives of prosecution and operations to scrutinise whether the cases are worthwhile of further processing or to be recommended for closure due to non-availability of trial-worthy evidence. All such cases will be referred to the HQ for final decision to ensure transparency in the system.

The Prosecution Wing informed the meeting that a total of 161 civil and criminal appeals were pending in the Supreme Court while 444 appeals were pending in all the high courts during the last six months ending on Dec 31, 2010, out of which 348 had been filed by the accused. Furthermore, 1,056 writ petitions were filed out of which 1,045 had been filed by the accused during the same period. It was decided to follow the cases of stay order in which sufficient time has passed.

The meeting was informed that in 2010, 43 references were filed against 32 in 2009 by the chairman NAB despite the fact that the post of chairman was vacant for almost five months. The DG (Awareness & Prevention) said that the focus of anti-corruption strategy must simultaneously be placed on preventive measures along with the enforcement. It was also decided that NAB shall monitor the tender notices and ads for contracts published in the print media.

The DG Balochistan highlighted various cases, including the misappropriation in the BISP through fake beneficiaries, food department, police, cases of public cheating and development works by using substandard material being handled by the Balochistan bureau. The chairman, in his concluding remarks, appreciated the hard work and the efficiency of the DGs in handling the difficult task of uprooting corruption from the society.