ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has revamped its prosecution system, believing it will help increase the conviction rate in corruption cases, expectedly by 10 per cent during the current year.
NAB spokesman Ramzan Sajid said that according to the bureau’s annual report for 2013, the rate of conviction was 65pc and new guidelines provided to all regional NABs were expected to increase the rate to 75pc this year.
The new guidelines approved by NAB Chairman Chaudhry Qamar Zaman had been issued by Prosecutor General Accountability (PGA) K.K. Agha, he said.
He said the NAB chief was of the opinion that prosecution work was as important as investigation and unless the cases were prosecuted properly before courts, the end result could not be termed satisfactory from the bureau’s point of view.
New guidelines expect to increase conviction rate by 10pc
Therefore, the chairman formed a committee comprising representatives from prosecution, investigation and human resources division to devise a mechanism for inspection, monitoring and evaluation of NAB prosecution to improve its performance.
After finalisation of the recommendations by the committee, these had been issued by the bureau as “executive orders”, the spokesman said.
Under the revamped prosecution system, it has been decided that monitoring and inspection teams (MITs) will be set up at headquarters and regional NABs to discreetly carry out random checks and report performance of the prosecution to the PGA.
The concept of combined investigation teams (CITs) will be developed for investigation and each CIT will consist of two investigation officers (IOs) and a legal counsel (LC)/prosecutor.
“On finalisation of an investigation, the prosecutor/LC shall meticulously prepare his/her case for trial and prepare the reference to be filed in a court. It shall be the responsibility of the investigation wing (IW) concerned to address the questions raised by the prosecutor/LC,” the new guidelines say.
To ensure the prosecutor’s full involvement in the case, a draft reference will be prepared by him, instead of the IO. He will present the reference in the bureau’s executive board meeting (EBM).
The same prosecutor will submit the reference to court and follow up for successful prosecution.
Prior to the filing of the reference the director general concerned, deputy PGA, IO and senior prosecutor entrusted with the case will determine the timeline for execution of the case and each reference will be monitored by the DPGA on a weekly basis to ensure adequate progress in the case within the agreed timeline.
NAB prosecutors will not ask for adjournments and defence’s requests for adjournments will be opposed. Prosecution will ensure that all objections to the adjournments are recorded in order sheets and the judge’s attention is drawn to section 16 (a) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999. Under this clause, the NAB chairman can ask any court for transfer of any case to the bureau being tried in it by any other investigation agency.
Under the new system, the IO will not appear before the court unless there are orders of the court to this effect or his/her statement has to be recorded.
The PGA has categorically conveyed to the regions that since the reference is finalised after thorough consultations within the NAB, its failure is not the sole responsibility of the IO; it will be a collective responsibility of all, including the DG and DPGA. The failed cases should be analysed and lacunas be highlighted so that the same mistakes are not repeated.
The DPGA (regions) have been asked to ensure that appeal matters are processed expeditiously. Appeals when legally justified must be filed within time.
Missing of appellate deadlines will not be tolerated, the guidelines say.
Witness handling cells will be set up in every region to ensure timely presence of witnesses and others allied matters.
Selection of prosecutors in NAB will be purely on merit and their performance will be assessed for further extension of contract period.
Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2014