NAB chief defends plea bargaining: Armed forces, judiciary can be made accountable
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, April 21: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Lt-Gen Munir Hafiez has strongly defended plea bargaining, saying the process of accountability could not be completed without arbitration.
Talking to reporters on Wednesday at a briefing about the ongoing international conference on UN Convention Against Corruption organized by the NAB, he said arbitration was not only one of the main aspects of the accountability process, but was also permitted by Islam.
Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, in his speech at the inauguration of the three-day conference on Tuesday, had criticized arbitration with those involved in any sort of corruption. He had termed arbitration "worst form of corruption".
The methodology of plea bargain was introduced for the first time in the country by the accountability bureau under the NAB Ordinance, 1999. "Under plea bargaining the amount of plea bargain is set by investigators and whatever amount is set by them is recovered under such deals," the NAB chief said.
Responding to a question about the prime minister's remarks on arbitration, he said: "I don't know in which context the prime minister had opposed arbitration and if Mr Jamali thinks that arbitration should not be done, he is empowered to change this law," he said. The NAB Ordinance is protected in the sixth schedule of the Constitution and cannot be amended by parliament without president's approval.
Mr Hafiez said: "Arbitration is being done everywhere. Our courts also arbitrate. Similarly, in the NAB, plea bargain is not done by me but by the courts," he said. Asked why the armed forces and the judiciary were spared from accountability, he said parliament could bring them under NAB purview.
The NAB chief said the armed forces and the judiciary should also be made accountable about their deeds. He said not only countries signatory to the UN convention, but people of many other developed countries had also suggested that the armed forces and judiciary be made accountable to the NAB.
"It is up to parliament to take a decision in this regard and I assure you that working of the bureau would not be affected and people from armed forces and judiciary would be given a similar treatment as to other accused," he said.
He told a questioner that jailed PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari was offered to proceed to Switzerland to defend himself in a money-laundering case, but had refused to go on medical grounds. The NAB chairman said he hoped the Swiss magistrate dealing with the case could come to Pakistan to record Mr Zardari's statement or extend the date of hearing.
Replying to a query about possible return of former Punjab chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, he said the NAB had been trying two cases against Mr Sharif and if he comes he would be treated under the law.
The NAB, he said, had made a law against money-laundering but it needed approval of competent authority for implementation. "The draft of this law is lying with the law and justice ministry for vetting," he added.
