The federal government has formed a joint committee comprising members from both houses of parliament to review accountability laws related to voluntary returns and plea bargaining, including Section 25 of National Accountability Ordinance.
This comes in the wake of an ongoing public debate on the same after country’s premiere accountability organistaion, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), accepted a plea bargain from Balochistan Secretary Finance Mushtaq Raisani in a corruption case for a fraction of the amount he has was accused of. Leaders in both government and opposition spoke against the law which triggered a discussion on the applicability validity of the law on these provisions.
Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid told a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice here at the Parliament House that the members of the committee comprise of the Senate and National Assembly who would review these laws, specially section 25 which deals with voluntary return and plea bargaining.
After the statement of the minister, the Committee, which met under the chairmanship of Senator Javed Abbasi, deferred further discussion on the matter. The meeting was held over a motion raised by Senator Farhatullah Babar.
The Senator gave his detailed point of view on the issue. He said that NAB law was used for political re-engineering and there should be no sacred cows if the law is to be reviewed.
NAB representatives briefed the committee about the issue of voluntary returns and plea bargaining. They informed that the concept of plea bargaining is not new in criminal proceedings, in fact it is used in different accountability and prosecution systems of the world.
The Bureau has recovered Rs285 billion since its inception, including the amount it recovered under VR/PB. As stated by NAB Spokesman Nawazish Ali Asim, from 2012 to 2016, the Bureau has recovered Rs20.19064 billion under voluntary returns and Rs15.16456 billion under plea bargain, a total of Rs37.3722 billion under both heads.
The Chairman of the Committee said that time is ripe to review the law comprehensively.
The Committee also considered ‘The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2016’, introduced by Senator Sassui Palijo and Senator Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah. Senator Sassui Palijo said that regional languages need to be given a proper recognition which would help promote national integration and build a strong federation. She said that a number of movements are going on in the country demanding national status for regional languages.
Senator Farooq H Naek also emphasised that it would help strengthen democracy in the country and would alleviate sense of deprivation among provinces.
It was informed that Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja has also moved a similar bill. The Committee decided to consider both these bills together in the next meeting.
The meeting was attended by Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Ch Aitzaz Ahsan besides Senators Saleem Zia, Mrs Zahida Khan, Farooq H Naek, Dr Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, Farhatullah Babar, Sassui Palijo and Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah. Senior officers of minister of law, NAB and others were also present on the occasion.
