THE Government has prepared a draft bill envisaging far-reaching amendments in National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) and the proposal seeks exclusion of private citizens holding no public office from NAB probe, further legitimizing the so-called plea bargain, empowerment to trial and vesting powers with the accountability courts to decide pre and post-arrest bail applications of accused. A threshold of Rs. 500 million is also proposed for NAB to take cognizance of an offence or instance of corruption.
Amendments in NAB laws were long due especially in the backdrop of consistent complaints that some actions of the NAB were impacting upon the economic activity and decision-making by bureaucracy besides undue harassment of private citizens. The Opposition too has been demanding for a substantial cut in vast powers of NAB as it is bearing the brunt of accountability process these days with most of the opposition leadership behind bars on different charges as well as suspicion. It will, however, be seen if the proposed amendments also satisfy the opposition and this would become clear when the draft bill is tabled before Parliament for approval. The Government will have to accommodate proposals and views of the opposition as well if it was really interested to bring about amendments in the accountability law for improvement of the entire process. This is because otherwise the Opposition might not allow the proposed bill to get through the Upper House where it holds the majority. While exclusion of private citizens from NAB probe might be welcome, there are serious questions regarding plan to further legitimize the plea-bargain clause of the law that amounts to shielding and benefiting the corrupt. The proposal that the voluntary return under plea bargain may be approved by a Committee formed by the Prime Minister will have political connotations and this would further dent the credibility of the accountability process, which is being seen by many including the Opposition as almost one-sided affair. It would be a step in the right direction if the new NAB law takes into consideration that lapses by officials do occur and will not categorize them as offences as this would help restore shattered confidence of the civil bureaucracy. It is hoped that there would be a transparent criteria for such a categorization as discretionary powers to NAB in this regard could be exploited.
