The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been empowered to keep an accused on physical remand for up to 40 days as Acting President Yousuf Raza Gilani approved an ordinance to amend the existing law, VOS News reported on Tuesday.
Before the ordinance, a person arrested by the NAB could be remanded into the bureau’s custody for 14 days. However, under the amended law, the duration of physical remand has been increased to 40 days.
Furthermore, the punishment for NAB officials for making false cases has been reduced from 5 years to 2 years.
The ordinance was passed amidst a hearing of the NAB amendments case by the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan, challenged by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.
The previous Pakistan Democratic Movement-led (PDM) government approved amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 in a bid to curtail the powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
