ISLAMABAD, June 20(ABC): President Arif Alvi on Monday rejected a bill amending the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance due to the “flaws in its implementation”.
According to a statement released on the official Twitter handle of the President of Pakistan, Alvi said that as conceived originally, the bill took inspiration from “Hazrat Umar’s incident” when asked about the source of extra cloth in his cloak. “The onus in financial crimes is on the accused to provide a money trail,” the statement read.
“Unfortunately, there were flaws in NAB’s implementation. It was misused for political exigencies by those in power [and] by vested interests,” the president said.
He also reiterated that the public clamoured for the return of the nation’s looted wealth, but long judicial processes and poor prosecution failed most efforts.
“Instead of improving the law to avoid miscarriage, to close loopholes [and] make it stronger, we are weakening it beyond recognition,” the statement read.
According to the president, the proposed changes will “demolish accountability”, creating a “façade of justice” that blatantly hides a corrupt elite capture ensuring the exploitation of the common man in an unjust society.
