ISLAMABAD: The recently enforced National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 has officially come into effect after the federal government published it in the Gazette of Pakistan on Monday.

The official document issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice said the law was amended through ordinance as the National Assembly and Senate are not in sessions.

The law ministry on Saturday officially released the text of the controversial ordinance — The National Accountability (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 — that is still in favour of the country’s businessmen who will no longer bear the brunt of NAB as cases pertaining to “federal or provincial taxation, levies or imposts” have been excluded from the purview of the accountability law and the existing “trials shall stand transferred from the relevant Accountability Courts to the criminal courts” dealing with such offences.

“President is satisfied by the circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action,” it further read.

The first amendment in the NAB Ordinance 1999 was made by the present government on Nov 1 which deprived the people involved “in any offence involving any amount above Rs 50m” from availing better classes in the prison.

Imran Khan is not scared of accountability, Firdous defends NAB ordinance

Earlier on yesterday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan had supported the government’s move to introduce National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019.

According to the details, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had made drastic changes in the National Accountability Ordinance, through a presidential ordinance promulgated on Friday. Under the ordinance, the powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were curtailed keeping in view frequent complaints of the bureaucracy and the business community.

Read NAB Ordinance 2019 here: