ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial said on Tuesday that after the recent amendments to the NAB law, there were definitive features in the law that have lessened the gravity of offenses. For instance, properties acquired in the name of family members or spouses had been taken out of the ambit of the act, and the law now required concrete evidence to include family members as accused in a corruption reference, he said.
The CJP observed this while heading a three-judge bench that had taken up a challenge filed by former prime minister Imran Khan against the August 2022 amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO). Justice Ijazul Ahsan, a bench member, said it would be very difficult to prove if the corruption reference was referred to the relevant forum after it was returned to NAB by the accountability courts. Only five politicians among 41 were acquitted after amendments, SC told However, senior counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan, who represented the federal government, told the Supreme Court that the change of procedure in corruption references did not provide any right to the petitioner to substantiate the violation of the fundamental rights with that of the procedure.
Khawaja Haris Ahmed, on behalf of the petitioner, also pleaded before the Supreme Court that the amendments to the law did not sanction what to do next after the reference was returned by accountability courts.
While citing several cases, Mr. Khan argued that the petitioner for approaching the top judge directly had to cross the first threshold that the statute he had challenged was ex facie discriminatory and that his personal right had been infringed or he was representing on behalf of a certain class whose rights have been infracted and by filing the petition on their behalf such class would be benefitted and that the petitioner had acted in a bona fide manner.
The council said the amendments to the accountability law were not discriminatory, and the petitioner had to establish that they violated particular fundamental rights…
Source: dawn.com
Sunday, April 19, 2026
