IHC declares NAB reference against Zardari as deviating from law

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has declared NAB reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari as deviating from law on Tuesday.

A two-member IHC bench, headed by Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah, and comprising Justice Amir Farooq, heard a petition filed by Zardari seeking his acquittal in the NAB’s reference against his property in America. 

During the hearing, Chief Justice Athar Minallah declared that the NAB’s reference against Mr Zardari was not according to the law. He reprimanded the NAB that all its references got busted because they were not prepared according to the law. 

The court tasked the bureau to make a new reference while excluding the income tax matter from it till Jan 18. 

Justice Athar Minallah remarked that the NAB should first send this matter to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) before making the reference. He said that the bureau was just wasting its time by making pointless references. He stated that NAB was not above the law. 

Zardari’s counsel Farooq Naek said that he had submitted the acquittal plea of Zardari before his indictment. He said that the accountability court should have sent a notice to the NAB and should have sought a reply from it. 

Naek further informed the court that Zardari submitted his acquittal application under the Second Amendment Accountability Bureau Ordinance.