Balochistan NAB reopens 65 corruption references, 30 cases n NAB list includes references against Asif Zardari, Yousuf Raza Gillani, Shaukat Aziz, Ijaz Haroon, Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Farzana Raja besides others.

ISLAMABAD/QUETTA  -  The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Thursday sub­mitted the record of 80 refer­ences to the Registrar Office Ac­countability Court in light of the judgement of the Supreme Court, pertaining to the resto­ration of specific cases. 

The NAB prosecutor shared the list of 80 references with the Registrar Office wherein the 26 cases were shifted to the rel­evant courts after scrutiny. The administrative judge Muhammad Bashir instructed the staff to ap­prise him about the cases against private, public office holders and government employees. The judge said that the pros­ecutor would inform the court that which was main­tainable or not. The prose­cutor said that they would present record of all cases before the court to ensure implementation on the judg­ment of the top court. 

Later, the NAB produced the record of cases. The ref­erence against former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani pertaining to corruption in universal services funds was sent to AC-II, Rent­al Power case against ex-prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Benazir Income Support Reference was sub­mitted to AC-III. Naude­ro Power Project reference against Pervez Ashraf and case pertaining All Pakistan Project Company, were also submitted to Act-III. 

The NAB list includ­ed the references against Yousuf Raza Gillani, for­mer prime minister Shau­kat Aziz, former president Asif Ali Zardari pertaining to Park Lane, Kidney Hills case against Ijaz Haroon and cas­es against Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed. 

Meanwhile, the Accountabil­ity Court served notices to Raja Pervez Ashraf in rental power case and noted that charges had already been framed against him in this case. Simi­larly, the court also sought ar­guments in reference against Farzana Raja. The same court also served notices to respon­dents in Lok Virsa corruption reference against Robina Kha­lid and others. The court also summoned the co-accused in person in the case.

Also, the Balochistan Na­tional Accountability Bu­reau (NAB) submitted details of 65 corruption references and around 30 cases of cor­ruption to the accountability court, Quetta. In the light of the decision of the Supreme Court, more than 65 referenc­es against former and present parliamentarians, bureau­crats and other influential persons including three for­mer chief ministers of Ba­lochistan had been restored. 

In compliance with the apex court’s order of strik­ing down some sections of the amendments made to the National Accountabili­ty Ordinance (NAO) of 1999 by the previous government, the NAB Balochistan also reopened over 30 inquiries and investigations. 

The bureau filed an appli­cation with the court asking to initiate legal proceedings as per apex court judgment. 

On the orders of Director General NAB Balochistan, the legal team of NAB had submitted the files of about 65 cases in the Account­ability Court. “Legal action on more than 65 referenc­es, and over 30 cases of in­quiries and investigations have once again started,” the sources said adding that three former chief ministers were among others who had been benefited the amend­ment made in the previ­ous regime would be facing court proceedings. 

The DG NAB Balochistan has issued orders for imme­diate action on more than 30 inquiries and investigations.

It may be recalled that during the previous govern­ment, progress on hundreds of cases involving corrup­tion of billions of rupees was stopped by amendments in the NAB laws. After the Su­preme Court’s recent deci­sion, in a high-level meeting presided over by Chairman NAB, instructions were is­sued to the heads of all re­gional NAB’s to resume the cases closed after the amend­ments in the NAB laws. Among the reopened cases are former chief ministers, several parliamentarians, grade 20 and 21 officers and several influential figures.

Apart from this, legal ac­tion has also been initiated against several housing so­cieties that have been de­frauding the public.

It merits mentioning here that among the three ac­countability courts in Ba­lochistan, one accountability court has been abolished fol­lowing the orders of the for­mer government, while the appointment of a respected judge has been implemented recently for one of the two accountability courts and the judge of the other court is yet to be appointed.