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ISLAMABAD: The lawyer representing Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the petition against amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to strike down the changes to avoid alleged tampering of evidence in corruption cases pending against the government members.
During the hearing of the case by a three-member bench, PTI counsel Khawaja Haris made these remarks while responding to a suggestion made by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah who said the PTI could return to parliament and then undo the changes to the NAB law.
At this, Mr Haris cited the case of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari where despite a number of corruption cases against the ex-president, “crucial evidence highlighting corruption” allegedly started disappearing when the regime was changed in April.
In at least three cases, the essential documents were purportedly missing as a result of all the accused being eventually acquitted by the high courts, the counsel claimed, adding that NAB officials expressed their helplessness that without the original documents they could not do anything.
Justice Shah wonders whether court could ‘keep parliament stunted’ by discouraging changes to law
“Will someone find out what happens, why the documents got disappeared and whether any FIR was lodged for the missing evidence,” the counsel wondered.
The counsel then cited the example of incumbent Finance Minister Ishaq Dar who could not have returned to Pakistan if Section 31 of the NAO had not been deleted. As per the repealed section, any absconder would be arrested the moment they set foot on the soil of the country, he added.
“When regime changes, people facing corruption cases play havoc [on country] and by the time next government comes, everything [evidence] has already been lost,” the counsel regretted. He alleged even witnesses were killed.
During the hearing, Justice Ijazul Ahsan observed that the main question was that could the nation “afford a seesaw where the regime changes the entire legal system and then we see a flurry of acquittals with applications coming out every day and the people getting acquitted left, right and centre”. “Is this the exercise of cleaning up the slate,” Justice Ahsan wondered.
But Justice Shah observed that in a democratic system, when a new government comes they bring their own laws. The real question is could the court keep parliament stunted by discouraging them not to change any law, he added.
The counsel, however, argued that democracy means the rule of the Constitution and questioned why didn’t the government repeal the NAB law in its entirety instead of making selective changes to the law. Justice Ahsan wondered even if the “court strikes down the amendment what effect will it have on the cases that have been closed and people awarded acquittals”.
The counsel explained that the NAB law has not been entirely repealed rather different provisions were substituted and once the amendments were rolled back, all the substitutions will also be undone. He contended that the amendments were encroaching upon the fundamental rights of the people.
CJP Umar Ata Bandial observed the court could understand the points Mr Haris was highlighting regarding certain international benchmarks concerning corruption and that “these amendments defeat the greater public good”.
He mentioned that the United Arab Emirates was still on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force because of the allegations of money laundering and weak legislation in this regard.
‘Match talk’
At the outset of the hearing, Justice Bandial wondered about the score of the T20 World Cup semi-final between Pakistan and New Zealand. “Have you left someone outside (the courtroom) to check the score,” observed CJP Bandial the moment Khawaja Haris appeared at the rostrum to open his arguments.
At this, Justice Ahsan observed that lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan who has the resources was present in the courtroom. “It is 18 for one with three overs,” Makhdoom Ali Khan replied promptly. “It’s not bad,” observed the CJP since New Zealand was batting at the time.
On Tuesday also Makhdoom Ali Khan had suggested the court put off the hearing on the NAB case for a day to enable everyone to watch the match but was decided that the proceedings will go as scheduled. Justice Shah while pointing towards Mr Haris also observed that “the more he argues, the more he will keep us from watching the cricket match”.
Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2022
