In Blow to Imran Khan, Pakistan Supreme Court Restores Changes in Anti-Corruption Law

Islamabad: In a victory for the ruling coalition government and a blow to former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Pakistan Supreme Court reinstated amendments made to the country’s National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), overturning its own decision from last year, Geo News reported.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faiz Isa and comprising Justice Aminuddin, Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel, Justice Athar Minallah, and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi announced the unanimous verdict.

Approving the intra-court appeals filed by the federal and provincial governments, Pakistan’s apex court remarked that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan could not prove that NAB (National Accountability Bureau) amendments were unconstitutional. Notably, the top anti-graft body and the PTI founder were made respondents in the intra-party appeals.

The majority judgement had struck down some amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999.

The amendments — National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022 — were passed in a joint sitting of the parliament in April 2022 during the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government, which came into power after ousting ex-premier Khan via a no-trust move in 2022, as reported by Geo News. It modified sections 2, 4, 5, 6, 25 and 26 of the NAB laws, however, 9 out of 10 amendments were declared “null and void” by the CJP Bandial-led bench on the PTI founder’s petition filed in June 2022.

Referring to the September 15 ruling, the court today pointed out that the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023 — which required that a plea must be heard by “not less than five judges of the SC” — was enacted while Khan’s petition was pending adjudication.

The top court also noted that the petition challenging the amendments made to the Ordinance was not heard and decided in accordance with the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act — hereinafter referred to as the “Act”. (ANI)

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