The government has finalized the draft of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) bill.
According to the new amendment bill, corruption of more than Rs50 crore will come under the jurisdiction of NAB and a case will be filed in the court of the area where the person committed the crime.
The draft states that a person’s plea bargain will not affect other persons in the same case, and that the Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau has the authority to dismiss any case in any court, in whole or in part.
The draft amendments have been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Legislation that will be presented for approval at the next cabinet meeting.
After the amendment, the cases of former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Zardari, his sister, Sindh Assembly MPA, Faryal Talpur and Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah will be transferred to Sindh.
The president refused to sign the bills on June 21 and returned them back to Parliament. The gazette notification has made the NAB amendment bills into law.
The National Assembly has passed bills to abolish the government’s election reforms giving overseas Pakistanis the right to vote through i-Voting and electronic voting machines (EVMs), as well as the NAB laws.
After the president’s refusal to sign the bills, the joint session of the Parliament has passed the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill 2021 and Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022.