The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit a complete inquiry record of the Rental Power Plants (RPPs) case until October 1.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry issued orders on a case regarding the submission of fortnightly progress reports by NAB over implementation of court’s judgment in RPPs’ case. In response to a request by NAB Prosecutor General Karim Khan Agha, the chief justice said that NAB Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bokhari was not required to appear in the next hearing. However, he made it clear that they were not including it in its Tuesday’s order and could summon the NAB chief if required.
At the outset of proceedings, Agha replied that the NAB chief and seven other officials who were issued show cause notices by the bench in the last hearing, had submitted their replies stating that they had not intentionally violated the court’s directions. The CJ told him that it was not the court’s responsibility to pass orders for implementation of its verdicts, as it was NAB’s responsibility to curb corruption, and it should take steps for implementing court’s verdicts. He asked the prosecutor general to read out relevant paras of the judgment and asked him what steps they had taken against the responsible. The CJ observed that NAB was not taking steps against those who had allowed unsolicited projects and were responsible for criminal negligence. He said the objective of the verdict was to create deterrence against corrupt elements so that nobody could indulge in it, but after a lapse of six months, the NAB was not taking any action. He said payments over unsolicited projects had been made twice.
