Islamabad (Web Desk): The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday reserved the verdict in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendments case.
A five-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and including Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah, and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, heard the federal government's intra-court appeal.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former premier Imran Khan appeared before the court via video link from Adiala Jail.
The verdict has been reserved on the federal and provincial governments' pleas, challenging the apex court's September 15 majority 2-1 judgment, which was announced by a bench led by former chief justice Umar Ata Bandial.
In 2022, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government made amendments to the NAB Ordinance with the PTI founder challenging it in the court as it would "virtually eliminate any white-collar crime committed by a public office holder".
In its judgment on Khan's appeal, the top court ruled on Sept 15 that the public officials whose cases had ended due to the amendments made by the PDM-led government would have to once again face corruption references.
The government then filed a petition in October 2023, saying that the majority judgement suffers from procedural impropriety and is, therefore, liable to be set aside.
The federal government challenged the apex court’s majority verdict in September last year, declaring amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 2002 illegal.
After concluding the arguments, the court reserved its decision. CJP Qazi Faez Isa drafted the order for today's proceedings.
In the written order, the CJP stated that any party wishing to submit a written response may do so. He said that the case had been brought to the Supreme Court on arbitration issues, remarking, "NAB has kept the money with itself. How can you keep even a single rupee with you?" The chief justice instructed the NAB prosecutor general to appear in person.
During today’s hearing, Pakistan People's Party lawyer Farooq H Naik presented his arguments.
He maintained that that no NAB cases were initiated during the PPP's tenure. Responding to this, the CJP said that the lawyer should not bring the party's matters before the court.
Justice Athar Minallah questioned how the federal government was affected.
The CJP also inquired about NAB's budget report and addressed Imran Khan, asking if he had anything further to add.
The top court's written order demanded a ten-year budget record from NAB and dismissed the response submitted by NAB's lawyer. It was stated that any party may file a response within seven days.
The CJP remarked that transparency and accountability are paramount. "We expect detailed records and clear answers," Justice Isa said.
Earlier, the CJP remarked that excluding unelected individuals from the domain of the NAB law is discriminatory.
Justice Athar Minallah asked why only elected public office holders are subjected to NAB's jurisdiction and were the unelected excluded. He added that the exclusion of unelected individuals from the jurisdiction of the NAB law was discriminatory.
Justice Athar Minallah remarked that no elected representative or relevant minister can make a summary without the approval of the respective Secretary. “If a Secretary writes in the summary that this is against the rules, can the Minister approve it? High-ranking officials should have the courage to deny it.”
After the respondents concluded their arguments, the top court reserved the verdict in the case.
