President Dr Arif Alvi has promulgated as many as eight ordinances including the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) (Amendment) Ordinance 2019, the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 and the Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission Ordinance 2019.
The President Thursday night promulgated eight ordinances while the federal cabinet has already given its approval on October 22. An ordinance is an ad hoc mode of legislation that has a life of only four months and can be further extended only once for another four months.
The President promulgated eight ordinances including the Letter of Administration and Succession Certificates Ordinance 2019; the Enforcement of Women's Property Rights Ordinance 2019; the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Ordinance 2019; the Superior Courts (Court Dress and Mode of Address) Order (Repeal) Ordinance 2019; the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2019; the Legal Aid and Justice Authority Ordinance 2019; the Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission Ordinance 2019; and the Civil Procedure Code Ordinance, 2019
The most significant ordinance was related to an amendment to the NAB law under which those accused facing charges of corruption, worth Rs 50 million or more, would only be entitled to be kept in 'C-Class' prison.
The Benami Transaction (Prohibition) (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 aims at expanding the definition of a whistle-blower. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government wants to amend the Benami transaction rules to make rewards for whistle-blowers more attractive. In a bid to tighten the noose around those who have accumulated wealth through illegal means, the ordinance is promulgated.
The information obtained during the investigation by National Accountability Bureau and Federal Investigation Agency can now be used as a legal source of information for the purpose of tracing and identifying the real owners of Benami properties.
The Benami properties are the ones that the real owners have retained on somebody else's name either to hide the source of income or evade taxes.
According to the sources, the government has extended the period of provisional attachment of properties allegedly owned by bigwigs of the PML-N and PPP after its investigators failed to make any headway in filing the references against accused persons within statutory deadlines.
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