Revived Corruption Charges: Former Prime Minister and Prominent Political Figures Back in Hot Seat as Pakistan's Anti-Corruption Laws Overturned

Pakistan's accountability watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), has decided to revive corruption charges against prominent political figures, including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari. This decision comes after the Supreme Court of Pakistan nullified recent amendments to anti-corruption laws. The NAB has submitted a list of corruption cases to the accountability courts, requesting them to reopen cases involving amounts less than Rs 500 million. Last week, the Supreme Court reversed the amendments made to the country's anti-corruption laws, leading to the revival of corruption cases against public officials, including Zardari and former prime ministers Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Gilani, Ashraf, and Abbasi.

The apex court announced its decision in response to a plea filed by imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan, challenging the changes made to the accountability laws during the government led by Shehbaz Sharif. The amendments had limited the NAB's jurisdiction to cases involving over Rs 500 million. The NAB has contacted various authorities, including the Federal Investigation Agency, anti-corruption departments in all provinces, banking courts, and the police, requesting the return of cases that were referred to them following the recent amendments. This decision was made during a meeting chaired by NAB Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmed Butt. The NAB headquarters has already submitted an application before the registrar of the accountability court in Islamabad to reopen closed cases, and regional NAB offices have approached regional accountability courts for the same purpose.

Previously, accountability courts had returned white-collar crime cases involving less than Rs 500 million to the NAB following the amendments. The revival of the previous law has resulted in the reopening of cases against several politicians, including Zardari and Sharif. Sharif, who is set to end his self-imposed exile in London on October 21, may face a revived Toshakhana case. Meanwhile, Zardari and Gilani are implicated in the same case. The NAB has accused Sharif and Zardari of unlawfully keeping expensive vehicles given to them by foreign countries and dignitaries instead of depositing them in the Toshakhana.

Gilani, during his time as Prime Minister, allegedly assisted Zardari in retaining these vehicles. Other notable figures whose cases have been reopened include former federal ministers Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Kh Asif, Rana Sanaullah, former Chief Minister of Punjab Hamza Shehbaz, Faryal Talpur, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Javed Latif, Akrum Durrani, and Saleem Mandviwalla. They had benefited from the amended law, which halted the trials of those accused of corruption involving less than Rs 500 million. The NAB is expected to provide case records to the court within the next two days in order to resume hearings.

The coalition government had made several changes to the NAB ordinance of 1999 through the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022, which was contested by Khan in June of the previous year. These changes included reducing the terms of the NAB chairman and prosecutor general to three years, limiting the anti-graft watchdog's jurisdiction to cases involving over Rs 500 million, and transferring all pending inquiries, investigations, and trials to the relevant authorities.