ISLAMABAD: Despite the relief given by the Supreme Court to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in the fake bank accounts case, the government vowed on Monday that the PPP leaders would either go for a plea bargain or face trial.

“The investigation against Bilawal and Murad Ali Shah will continue but their names will be omitted from ECL,” said Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry at a press conference along with Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Accountability Shahzad Akbar.

Interestingly, the Supreme Court had already barred the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from striking a plea bargain deal after it was made controversial by different political circles. However, Mr Akbar said: “The accused in the fake bank accounts case will have to either face the case or go for a plea bargain deal.”

PM’s aide says names of Bilawal, Murad being removed from ECL but they will either face trial or go for plea bargain

In the plea bargain deal, the accused confesses to corruption and pays some amount of the total money involved in the case which is fixed by NAB and approved by the accountability court.

Initially, NAB starts an inquiry on a complaint and in case some credible evidence is found the inquiry is turned into an investigation and after the investigation it is decided whether a reference should be filed in the accountability court or not.

In this specific case, Mr Akbar said NAB would not go for an inquiry but would start the investigation on the basis of the inquiry conducted by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed by the Supreme Court.

In the JIT report, 172 people, including PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Murad Ali Shah and Bahria Town owner Malik Riaz, have been accused of having fake bank accounts and indulging in money laundering.

According to the Supreme Court’s order given on Monday, 170 accused, including Asif Zardari, Faryal Talpur and Malik Riaz, will continue to face a ban on their travel abroad. The apex court asked NAB to conclude its investigation within two months.

As the PPP termed the apex court’s decision its victory, Mr Akbar said: “It is too early for the PPP to celebrate the Supreme Court’s orders for removal of the names of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Murad Ali Shah from the ECL.”

He said like supporters of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had distributed sweets after the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama leaks case, PPP leaders were celebrating the verdict and termed it their victory.

“The Supreme Court’s directive to NAB to complete its investigation in two months means that those found guilty of corruption will have two options: face a reference or ask for a plea bargain,” he added.

The PM’s assistant warned the PPP leadership that removal of two names from the JIT report did not mean that they would not have to answer for their wrongdoings, adding that the SC had not accepted even a single objection of the accused rather the court rejected all of them.

Interestingly, Information Minister Chaudhry said he was not aware whether the JIT would continue to exist or it would be dissolved once the case was referred to NAB. However, Mr Akbar said the JIT would remain intact and assist NAB in probing the case.

Mr Akbar claimed that former law minister Farooq H. Naek would not have a clean chit in the case as his son had received heavy amounts from fake accounts. “Farooq Naek did not respond to any annexure of the report but will have to respond to NAB’s queries,” he added.

In reply to a question, the PM’s assistant said the JIT had recommended 16 references against the accused, but now it depended on NAB that how it would treat the JIT report.

During the NAB investigation, he said, the accused would have to tell that how Bahria Town grew in Karachi and how state land was handed over to its owner.

Mr Chaudhry said the government would remove Murad Ali Shah’s name from the ECL, but it would stick to its demand regarding his resignation.

He said the PTI government had fulfilled its promise made with the people that it will send the country’s top corrupt people behind bars. “Now 90 per cent of the thugs are behind bars and the remaining 10pc will join them soon,” he added.

The minister recalled that the PTI government had not made any of the cases against opposition leaders but given a free hand to the investigative agencies and investigators.

He said the inquiry into fake accounts was started in 2015, but then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had stopped it due to what he called the ‘charter of corruption’ between the PPP and PML-N.

Mr Chaudhry said chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman wanted to unite opposition leaders. “The whole nation is standing against corruption and they [opposition leaders] are standing against the nation,” he added.

In reply to a question about the current crisis in the media, the minister said media houses would have to restore the office of ‘editor’ in the newspapers and news channels. “They [owners of media houses] have to appoint professional journalists as editors as this is the only way to restore the image of the media. If the office of the editor is not restored the government will have to make some legislation to mend media’s ways,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2019