Supreme Court axe falls on beneficiaries of NAB `voluntary return' scheme
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ISLAMABAD: (APP) The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Secretary Establishment and provincial chief secretaries to initiate proceedings against accused persons who had benefitted from the 'voluntary return' powers of the NAB chairman.
The apex court in its five-page detailed order in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) `voluntary return' suo moto case, also restrained the NAB chairman or any other officer authorised by him in that behalf from accepting any offer of voluntary return.
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The NAB chairman used the 'voluntary return' clause of National Accountability Ordinance 1999 for his benefit, which in return promoted corruption, it observed.
According to a NAB list, there are 1,584 officials who benefitted from the `voluntary return'. This includes 165 federal and 1,419 provincial officials. The most benefit was provided to officials from Khyber Pakhtukhwa where 900 returned embezzled funds under the `voluntary return'.
The `voluntary return and plea bargain' clauses allows the Bureau to discharge an individual from `all his liability' in the corruption cases, the court observed.
