Federal Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid on Wednesday said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had submitted details of 179 mega cases in the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP).
These cases submitted on April 9, 2015 are under heads of the offences, including financial scam, land scam and a use of official position, the minister said in a written reply to a question in this regard in the Senate.
He said the NAB chairman accorded his highest priority to finalise these mega cases as well as other pending cases in a professional manner without compromising on transparency and objectivity. Resultantly, with the untiring efforts, he said, the NAB has been able to achieve significant progress in the said 179 mega cases.
He said out of 81 inquiries, 25 inquiries have since been upgraded into investigations, six inquiries have been culminated into voluntary return, one inquiry merged into ongoing reference and five closed on merit leaving a balance of 44 inquiries.
Similarly, out of 52 investigations, references had been filed in 30 cases, three investigations completed through plea bargain, whereas two investigations were closed based on case merit, he added.
He said on receipt of 25 new investigations, the present number of investigations has now become 42, adding that initially 46 references were under trial before the Accountability Courts (AC), out of which one case has been decided so far through conviction of accused.
On conversion of further 30 investigations into references after up gradation, the present balance of references is 75 now, he added.
He said expected date of completion of all such cases has been fixed by the chairman is September 30, however, depending upon the circumstances and complexity of the cases, the timelines can be varied.
In a written reply to another question, the minister said it is a fact that NAB has recovered Rs 385.119155 million from M/s R.G Pharmaceutica Pvt Ltd.
He said reference against the directors of other companies as well as government officers who are involved in the matter has been filed in AC which is under trial.
He said the Ministry of National Health Services has been asked to ensure that the prices of medicines charged are in accordance with the commitment made by the M/s R.G Pharmaceutica Pvt Ltd at the time of agreement of plea bargain under which the prices will come down to the level of 2012.
