Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday termed plea bargain law of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as ‘fraud’, saying that it leads to only a small amount being recovered from the culprit.
Shehbaz Sharif said that the law was made by a dictator and further deliberations need to be carried out on it.
He further said that plea bargain is offered with a punishment in law abiding societies.
The Executive Board of NAB in a surprise move last Wednesday accepted the plea bargain request of more than Rs2 billion of Balochistan Finance Secretary Mushtaq Ahmad Raisani and Sohail Majeed Shah, contractor and frontman of Khalid Lango, ex-Adviser to CM Balochistan for Finance.
The NAB spokesman Nawazish Ali said that the bureau should be praised for making the biggest plea bargain in history and returning the amount to the national exchequer.
He said the law allows plea bargain for the accused during seven months of interrogation. “This is the biggest plea bargain in NAB’s history,” Ali said.
NAB’s move is being criticised in several quarters. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan earlier said that the law was promoting corruption.
“Had the NAB been acting rightly, then there would have been no corruption in the country,” Imran Khan said
He said the incumbent NAB chief should immediately step down in view of corruption prevailing on a massive scale.
Shehbaz Sharif further added, “Plea bargain of NAB is a fraud and it had been introduced by dictator Musharraf who toppled democracy. He said that a wrong deed cannot be justified through backdoor. He said that there is plea bargain system also in civilised societies but the corrupt elements are punished and they have to face imprisonment.”
Shehbaz Sharif said that through plea bargain only a small amount is recovered from the elements embezzling billions and trillions of rupees and Balochistan case is an example. He said that elimination of the system of plea bargain is the need of the hour.”
