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LAHORE: National Accountability Bureau Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has defended plea bargaining and voluntary return of money and said action will be taken against all those involved in major cases of corruption.
“We have decided to lay hands on all those involved in mega corruption cases irrespective of party or social differentiation,” he said at a function here on Saturday.
NAB has been facing severe criticism, especially from the PPP, that it is being used by the PML-N government to victimise its political opponents.
The judiciary has also been criticising the bureau for “letting suspects off the hook” after striking plea bargain and voluntary return deals with them.
Mr Chaudhry acknowledged that the bureau had been accused of accepting amounts lower than the determined booty and allowing the accused to escape prosecution. “For the sake of clarification I want to say that NAB (law’s) preamble emphasises recovery of looted money if an accused is willing to return it. Voluntary return is applicable at the time of inquiry which is the initial stage of a case. If the accused is willing to pay the principal amount plus mark-up, he is within his rights under the law to do so. NAB evaluates his offer with appropriate guarantees.
“The case is presented in the regional or central executive board for consideration before approval by the chairman. If the offer is considered unsatisfactory, it is rejected and the case is processed for further action,” he said.
Once a case is upgraded to the investigation stage and then the accused offers to return the ill-gotten money, then it is termed plea bargaining. “The accused is required to pay the full determined amount plus mark-up in three equal instalments. His offer is submitted to the respective accountability court,” said Mr Chaudhry.
He said that plea bargaining had other implications because it is deemed a conviction. “The accused is barred from holding a government job and public office and a businessman may not obtain loan from banks for 10 years.”
The NAB chief said the amount determined by the bureau was non-negotiable and all of it had to be paid by the accused. “Therefore, the question regarding accommodating the accused to reduce payments against the determined amount is not valid.”
He said that top priority was accorded to complaints of corruption against NAB’s officials. “NAB personnel need to follow a strict code of conduct and zero tolerance against corruption is to be visibly exhibited.”
He also mentioned a period when NAB had allegedly been stopped from working. He said the operations, prosecution, human resource development and awareness and prevention programmes had been reactivated last year.
“With the departure of the Economic Crime Wing to the FIA in 2008, a huge resource gap was created and NAB was left with only 40 per cent manpower to manage its activities,” he said, adding that an effort had been made to fill this gap through induction of 260 officers after training in 2014. “Another batch of 134 officers has been selected and for the first time the personnel are being trained at the Police Training College in Sihala.”
Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2015
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