Imran Khan vows to challenge NAB laws in Supreme Court

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday vowed to challenge the recently-passed National Accountability (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the Supreme Court.

“I will challenge the amendments to NAB law in the Supreme Court this week. This new law is disrespect to the nation and the country,” he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

The ouster prime minister called for throwing incumbent rulers behind bars for “shamelessly” passing the amendments in the NAB laws which would promote corruption and money laundering in the country.

“They should be put in jail for their shamelessness. Nobody can pass such laws the way this government did,” he said.

“New NAB law will save Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, and Maryam Nawaz, and corruption cases worth Rs1,100 billion will be closed down,” he added.

He said the NAB will not be able to deal with money laundering cases which will be dealt with by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which works under Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah.

“How can we imagine that Rana Sanaullah will launch cases against Nawaz Sharif or Asif Zardari,” the PTI chairman added.

The PTI chairman said under the current tax laws, a person has to provide the trail of his money as the onus lies on them, not the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). But now he said the tax watchdog will have to prove whether a person accumulated illicit wealth.

He said changes were made to the “assets beyond means” section of the NAB law which will provide relief to government leaders.

READ MORE: PTI observes black day today against NAB amendment

He claimed that the amendments to section 21 have now made the information on foreign assets inadmissible, implying that Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz will get “clean chits” in the Avenfield case.

The PTI chairman said that the government has also allowed people to “make money” through Benami accounts as they will not be held accountable for the money.

“Amendments made to these laws are worse than dropping a bomb on the country,” Khan said. “Those who made such amendments should be put behind bars.”

He said history will never forget all internal and external elements who “installed” the incumbent regime in power. He said he will sool give a call for another protest against the government.

The government passed the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022, in the National Assembly and the Senate last month  but President Arif Alvi returned the bill unsigned.

On June 9, the government passed the law in the joint sitting of Parliament. The laws became effective despite the president’s refusal to sign them.