Much to the relief of a select class of politicians, business tycoons, big landlords and agriculturists, top bureaucrats and generals, who have acquired hundreds of billions as loans from public banks but never returned the money, wilful default is no more an offence under the draft accountability law finalised by the government.
And if the draft ‘Holders of Public Offices (Accountability) Act 2009’ is enacted in its present shape, it would drop cases of all major loan defaulters whereas an ordinary defaulter would continue to be haunted and harassed by banks.
Misuse of authority is yet another offence that has been excluded from the draft law, which would pave the way for illegal appointments and non-transparent dealings by politicians and rulers. The draft law contains an indemnity provision for politicians from being proceeded against for doing anything in ‘good faith’.
The highly contentious draft law, which is not only toothless but considered a recipe to encourage corruption, may not see a smooth sailing after The News recent reports on the law. Although Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had referred the draft legislation to opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan after announcing last week that it had been finalised, the government has decided now to refer it back to the standing committee on law and justice for yet another review.
Some committee members were furious to find the final draft was totally different from the one approved by them in the committee meetings. The committee in its July meeting, it was said, had decided with consensus to delete from the draft law the pro-Musharraf provision of ‘No prosecution of a public office-holder after expiry of three years of his ceasing to hold office’, which was considered a permanent NRO for politicians. However, the said contentious clause is again included in the final draft, besides making the law toothless, as it gives no authority to the future Accountability Commission to arrest the corrupt despite having concrete evidence, and making all offences under it bailable.
The NAB law covers almost all white collar crimes, including misuse of power; however, the draft law has merely four offences. Though the draft law is directed apparently against public officer-holders it is drafted in as a manner that it defends them from being proceeded against. It is politicians-specific. Although ordinary members of parliament do not hold any public office they, too, have been included in the definition of ‘holders of the public office’.
Though the draft law promises to check corruption, in reality it provides a safe and secure outlet to a public office-holder, who even if charged under a corruption case, could go scott free at any stage by voluntarily returning the looted money. But such a compulsion a public office-holder would only feel when he would have the threat of being arrested, which is not possible under the draft law.
The government is claiming to have developed consensus on the bill in line with the Charter of Democracy but PML-N spokesman and Senator Pervez Rashid has told the media that his party would not support the draft legislation in its present shape and would only endorse an accountability law that serves as an effective deterrence against corruption.
Interestingly, the Charter of Democracy seeks for the setting up of an independent accountability commission but the draft law puts the future accountability apparatus under the executive’s arm, which has so far been a major reason for the failure in the development of a reliable and credible accountability system in the country.
NAB, created by Musharraf, has recovered Rs225 billion looted money though, it becomes controversial not because of the NAB Ordinance but because of it being used as a tool by the government to target the opposition.
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