SC seeks reply from government over NAB's powers for voluntary return

By
Abdul Qayyum Siddiqui
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SC seeks reply from government over NAB's powers for voluntary return

ISLAMABAD: A two-member bench of the Supreme Court sought reply from the government over National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) power of voluntary return.

In his remarks, Justice Azmat Saeed said that NAB had become a facilitator of corruption as the apex court resumed hearing a case regarding voluntary return of funds—which allows an individual pay back the amount he has embezzled in the public kitty and get cleared of all charges.

During the proceeding, Justice Azmat Saeed said that a peon who takes Rs250 as bribe is sent to jail while a person who takes Rs25 million as bribe is let go.

“Why doesn’t NAB place advertisements of “do corruption, get corruption done” in the paper?” he said.

A NAB prosecutor replied that the voluntary return law had not been formulated by NAB.

To this Justice Amir Hani Muslim said that NAB was misusing the law. “Why doesn’t NAB lay its hands on the big fish?"

The hearing of the case was adjourned for two weeks.

The Supreme Court took away powers of voluntary return from the NAB chairman in October.