NAB Pakistan: Accountability At Risk

NAB Islamabad, the country’s largest anti-corruption body, nationally recognized for its biased and politically powered actions, has once again become the center of controversy. Well, this time, it’s not through NAB Islamabad’s own actions, but rather by a recent Supreme Court verdict announced on 6 September 2024. Supreme Court, the largest judicial authority in the country, has finally released its long-awaited, ‘reserved’ decision regarding the NAB Amendments Case. The recent hearing has just led to a surprising turn of events for NAB Islamabad.

Guess what the decision revealed? The decisions restored all the NAB Amendments that were previously nullified by the Supreme Court under the 3-membered bench led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on September 15, 2023. Now this development might be seen as a ‘blessing in disguise’- or maybe more of a disguise than a blessing. Well, the true impact can only be judged on the turn of events in the coming days. In the meantime, let’s just delve deeper into the amendments and their impending impact from all possible perspectives.

The NAB Ordinance & Amendments: The Backdrop

So as for the backdrop, the NAB Amendment Case is all about the amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance NAO, 2002. The amendments were actually introduced in 2022 by the coalition government formed by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which came soon after the ousting of the ex-Prime Minister Mr Imran Khan Niazi.

Before, digging any further, have a quick glance over the key amendments in the role of the NAB Islamabad, made under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).

Key Amendments in the NAO

Limited NAB Islamabad jurisdiction over certain types of corruption cases mainly that involved private businesses or non-governmental entities.
Limiting NAB’s jurisdiction to cases that involved corruption of 500 million rupees or more. (mainly in the form of real estate)
Most of the regulatory bodies were removed from NAB Islamabad’s jurisdiction and the pending or ongoing NAB cases were transferred to other relevant authorities.
Higher conditions for initiating any investigations require at least 100 people to file a complaint against a real estate scam, along with substantial evidence.
Provided certain ‘safety’ to public officials, making it harder for NAB to oversee cases that involved allegations of corruption by these individuals or groups (mainly from the real estate sector).
Cutting the tenure of the Chairman NAB Islamabad from 5 years to 3 years.

So specifically, these amendments in the NAB Islamabad Ordinance were basically about the restriction of NAB’s oversight and set limitations to its jurisdiction regarding corruption or graft cases. The PDM government argued that these amendments were necessary to streamline the bureaucratic principles in the country. However, Mr. Khan challenged them stating that the amendments were ‘unconstitutional’ and were just aimed at benefiting politicians or groups to carry on with their corrupt practices, ultimately adding more to the plight of the public.

Addressing the petition in the Imran Khan NAB case, the then Chief Justice Supreme Court, Mr. Umar Ata Bandial ruled in favor on September 15, 2023, and declared those amendments as null and void.

The story does not end here! The current government filed another petition against the ruling that called these amendments null and void. The federal government filed an appeal through the Court Appeal (ICA) and challenged the decision. Later on, on 6th June 2024, the Supreme Court of Pakistan held the hearing yet reserved the decision. Probably to keep a ‘surprise’? Well, as of, 6th September 2024, the surprise has finally been revealed. That is all of those amendments have been restored. Now the impact of this latest decision will surely shape the future of NAB Pakistan’s role and its effectiveness in safeguarding accountability, not for the “powerful”, but for the common man!

SC Verdict: Red Flag for Accountability in Real Estate Transactions?

The Supreme Court verdict on the NAB amendment case can actually be seen as a double-edged sword. Although the aim behind these is to streamline NAB Pakistan operations and restrict them to prevent misuse of power, the ultimate impact is not as simple to judge. The true test of this shall be seen in their implications, interpretations, and the extent to which they are acted upon.

Majorly, the recent Supreme Court verdict on the NAB amendments case has raised significant concerns regarding NAB real estate transactions because the most undesirable impact, perhaps, shall be on the real estate sector only. Real estate is one of the largest investable sectors in the country, yet remains highly vulnerable.

Particularly the impact on the high-profile NAB real estate corruption cases is particularly concerning. For instance, these amendments have set the threshold of a minimum of 100 substantial evidence or complaints against any scam. Which cannot be always possible! Ultimately this shall allow such NAB cases to stay out of the NAB jurisdiction and eventually shall harm the affectees. All of this raises the question of whether the verdict was to streamline accountability or to crush it even further!

Power is Protecting Itself: What About Justice?

It remains an undeniable fact that the restoration of the NAB Pakistan amendments has legal loopholes that are probably hard to cover up. The overall impact of these, as stated above, may be earlier to judge, but one clear thing is that access to justice has become even harder. It’s an obvious fact now. The fact that the public at large for filing a complaint shall be 100, like 100 pieces of evidence to prove the scam. It is certainly a bitter pill to swallow. Because practically it is hard to collect and present any such case to the NAB with this condition. Ultimately it has only made corruption easier.

Also, the amendment that an NAB case cannot be filed for corruption worth less than 500 million is not the jurisdiction of NAB Islamabad to initiate an investigation, is needless. What about the corruption cases worth less than 500 million? Are other institutions capable enough to grant the desirable justice to the affetees? Probably not, so clearly these are just empowering the ‘powerful’ and justice, even more inaccessible.

Wrap Up!

In short, the legal loopholes left by these amendments are obvious and shall widen even more with time. Reportedly, the amendments are to ensure that NAB Islamabad deals with issues that affect major losses or the public at large, but the ultimate test lies in the implementation and the resulting outcome. Until now, these amendments have been a deliberate effort to protect the political landlords from accountability, standardize NAB Pakistan procedures, and cover up graft cases.