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NAB filed 35 references in courts in four monthsAPP
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has filed 35 references, including some high profile cases, in accountability courts in the last four months while 26 references have already been decided. According to official sources, 21 investigation cases have been authorised and 23 finalised during the period. Some 55 inquiries were ordered and 46 of them were completed. NAB recovered Rs 1.25 billion through voluntary return and plea bargains while courts imposed a Rs 2.4 billion fine in cases between October 2013 and January 2014. The voluntary return and plea bargain amounts during the same period of 2012-13 were Rs 615 million. Since its inception, NAB got voluntary returns in 2,017 and plea bargains in 948 cases, recovering total amount of Rs 258.716 billion. NAB completed 4,419 inquiries and 2,513 investigation cases while 649 inquiries were in process. Some 2,002 references were decided and 651 were in process.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk
According to sources, conviction rate of cases, which NAB took to courts, stood at 67 percent. Chairman of NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhry had been focusing on strict punitive action. NAB not only wants to punish the swindlers but is also focusing on recovering the looted money. He had also ordered holding the Executive Board Meeting every week to clear backlog of cases. A senior official of NAB on Sunday explained that a “voluntary return” is only possible when a person is merely suspected of having committed a crime. He said in a statement that once evidence against a person has been collected and he/she has become an accused, a voluntary return is no longer possible. However, the law permits a court to award a lighter sentence or no sentence to an accused if he/she pleads guilty and seeks clemency/leniency of the court. The court may then reduce sentence, suspend sentence, or not award any sentence in jail, he added. However, since this leniency is sought after pleading guilty, the court usually imposes a fine of 15% or more of the sum misappropriated, on the accused, and he/she is disqualified from holding public office or a government assignment for a minimum of 10 years.