ISLAMABAD: Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Muhammad Farogh Naseem on Friday said the law ministry was examining the legal framework governing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as directed by the Supreme Court (SC).
Briefing the National Assembly (NA) in response to Khawaja Saad Rafique’s allegations, he said the government was determined to comply with the contentions of Justice Asif Saeed Khosa to rectify anomalies in the NAB law.
He said the current NAB ordinance was in continuity of the Accountability Ordinance of 1997 and Accountability Act, both of which were approved by the PML-N government.
“The opposition did not bother to amend NAB laws in last ten years and expect from the PTI government to amendment them in a mere 90-day rule,” he said.
He said according to section 16 of the NAB ordinance, no discussion could be held on inquiries pending in NAB.
Appreciating the performance of NAB, the minister said corruption in the country has decreased, citing various surveys.
Regarding the demand to form a committee which will visit prisons and analyse the plight of the NAB prisoners, he urged opposition to inform about their complaints in writing.
He said according to a NAB report submitted, the perception that only politicians are being targeted by the bureau is incorrect. Only 4.5 per cent of the ongoing NAB inquiries are related to politicians while the ratio of politicians in investigations is only two per cent and in references’ is only 1.1 per cent, he added.
Earlier, Saad Rafique severely criticised NAB law, calling it obsolete. “NAB is targeting the opposition,” he claimed, urging the house to take notice of the plight of NAB prisoners as they were being treated like animals.
He said a fact-finding committee of parliamentarians should be constituted to analyse plight of NAB prisoners, incarcerated in different jails of Lahore, Karachi and Quetta.