ISLAMABAD: Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Javed Khan has underscored flaws in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law.
He has raised objections against the recent amendments introduced in the NAB Ordinance and flayed some original provisions that allow NAB officials to arrest a suspect before filing a reference against them.
The PTI government amended the NAO through a presidential ordinance in October.
Khalid Javed Khan told media that Prime Minister Imran Khan had turned down his suggestion to include a provision in the amended law to bar NAB officials from arresting suspects until a court decided on references against them.
He said the NAB’s investigation and prosecution processes were flawed and that some of the cases should have concluded much earlier.
“Accusing people of corruption and then saying after a year that no reference could be filed destroys reputations,” he said.
The decision to arrest a suspect should be made by an accountability court and that too when a reference has already been filed, he said.
No one should be arrested at the initial stage, Khan said adding that NAB had been unjust in some cases and needed to compensate the victims.
The Attorney General said the president should not have been given powers to remove the NAB chairman because it would lead to problems.
Under the amended NAO, the Supreme Judicial Council has been stripped of its power to remove the NAB chairman. The power has been vested in the president instead.
