ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has struck down some amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 made during the tenure of the PDM-led government.
Headed by CJP Umar Ata Bandial, a three-member bench also comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, held more than 50 hearings on PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s petition against the amendments and reserved the judgment on September 5.
The CJP had promised that a “short and sweet verdict” would be announced before he retired, his last day as the apex court’s top judge being September 17.
In the majority verdict today, the Supreme Court restored graft cases against public officeholders that were closed down following the amendments.
According to the verdict, the petition against NAB amendments was declared admissible by the majority decision, restoring all closed inquiries filed with the anti-graft body.
The apex court ordered restoring all graft cases worth less than Rs500 million that were closed down against the political leaders belonging to different political parties and public office holders and declared the amendments void.
Furthermore, the court directed the NAB to return all records related to cases to relevant courts within seven days.
The verdict on Khan’s appeal further added that the NAB amendments under question affected the rights of the public listed in the Constitution. The verdict has some far-reaching consequences as the striking down of the amendment would mean that references against some of the country’s political bigwigs will once again land in the accountability courts.
These include the Toshakhana reference against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Supremo Nawaz Sharif, PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani along with the LNG reference against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the rental power reference against former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.
However, Justice Shah issued a dissenting note in the NAB amendments case.
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