ISLAMABAD: On Tuesday, the Supreme Court stated that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was “scare[ing]” everyone and that it was not “in charge of all the world’s affairs.”
The Supreme Court made the remarks while hearing a petition from a national graft buster appealing the order of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to declare an investigation into former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary Sahibzada Riaz Noor and other officials void.
The case was considered by a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice-designate Umar Ata Bandial.
During the hearing, the judge inquired as to what authority the NAB utilised to resume the investigation after the accused agreed to a plea bargain.
According to the NAB special prosecutor, accused Zahid Arif submitted Rs17 million as part of a plea bargain. He claimed that notwithstanding the plea agreement, the accused was reinstated on the job by the K-P chief secretary.
According to the prosecutor for the anti-graft watchdog,for this reason a probe into Arif, inquiry officer Sial Qayyum, and the former chief secretary had begun.
The accused had filed a challenge at the PHC, which was later pronounced null and void.
After the defendants reached a plea agreement, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah questioned the NAB’s authority.
He stated that the NAB should follow the law and stay within its jurisdiction, and he inquired as to which statute it began the investigation after the matter was closed. He stated that the NAB was not in control of “all of the world’s issues.”
Justice Bandial said that the national graft buster was frightening everyone and inquired as to whether the case had implicated the establishment secretary.
Despite the fact that the accused had reached a plea bargain, the NAB prosecutor took the position that the department had said in its investigation that the accused had supplied essential facts concerning his holdings.
The Supreme Court requested clarification from the NAB and postponed the case’s hearing indefinitely.
