Instead of eliminating corruption, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is busy promoting the menace, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Iftikhar Muhammad CChaudhry observed on Thursday. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by the SC Chief Justice, heard a case pertaining to a NAB report regarding the defunct rental power plants (RPPs).
The Chief Justice expressed annoyance over the NAB plea bargain with the persons responsible for huge losses caused to the national exchequer in these projects, instead of filing cases against them. The Chief Justice remarked that instead of curbing corruption, NAB was promoting it.
On Thursday, NAB's Deputy Prosecutor-General Fauzi Zafar told the court that NAB was making a plea bargain with people responsible for the corruption and delaying the recovery of the funds in the instant case. The Chief Justice observed that the court had ordered legal action against those responsible, but NAB had neither filed cases nor arrested people involved in the case, but started plea bargain with them.
The Chief Justice asked NAB's Deputy Prosecutor-General that the Chairman of the bureau should submit in writing before the court that he was unable to take action against influential persons. Justice Jawad S Khawaja, another member of the bench, observed that NAB had so far failed to take any action in a single case. Later, the court directed NAB to submit its report on Friday (today) pertaining to implementation of the court's order in the instant case and adjourned the hearing till October 26.