The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Punjab’s Prosecution Wing has failed to maintain pace with judicial proceedings in the accountability courts, delaying the court work on Thursday by not serving notices to twenty witnesses in separate cases. The NAB’s Prosecution Wing could not produce twenty important prosecution witnesses in accountability court No 1, for the recording of their evidence in three different references filed against Shamshad Gulzar from the Lahore Mass Transit System Project, Chand Pervaiz from the Still Rich Forex scam and Abdul Khaliq. According to details, the court had summoned ten witnesses in the Lahore Mass Transit System Project reference, six in the Still Rich Forex scam and four in a reference filed against Abdul Khaliq but during the proceedings not a single prosecution witness turned up in the court for evidence, resulting in undue adjournment in the hearing of references.
It was the lawful duty of NAB’s Prosecution Wing to ensure the appearance of prosecution witnesses in court at the time of hearing of the related reference. NAB’s former prosecutor Adnan Shuja Butt told Pakistan Today, “Summoning the prosecution witnesses has several procedural bottle necks. The court issues directions for summoning a witness and upon that prosecution department’s legal coordination, NAB makes arrangements for the appearance of the witness in court and in case, when a prosecution witness belongs to the other city, it becomes more difficult to process the summons. Likewise, in the cases where the prosecution wing has to depend on the police department, after the issuance of summons from court, the prosecution wing informs the concerned district police officer (DPO) who forward the same to the relevant police station. Now it is up to the low ranking police official, the process server who is mostly a constable, whether he performs his duty honestly or not.”
Earlier, during the hearing of a case, Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif had observed that the constables deputed for notice service take bribery from the parties in most cases and submit false reports of benefit to the bribing party. “It was a criminal act from police against the court and justice system. Such behaviour by notice serving constables is obstructing dispensation of justice and smooth working of courts, he said.
