I think its time to get corrupt people out of the govt and bring in clean people who can do the job. Seems like knocked out of NRO might just do that.
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Travel ban slapped on 247 hit by NRO
Travel ban slapped on 247 hit by NRO
By Syed Irfan Raza
Friday, 18 Dec, 2009
](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=)
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/473ea70040b331cabcb5bfa23d858f29/malik-608.JPG?MOD=AJPERES
It is ironic that the interior minister on whose order the names of people are put on the ECL himself came on the list.—Photo by AP
**ISLAMABAD: As the apparently helpless government watched in discreet silence, the National Accountability Bureau on Thursday acted on the orders of the Supreme Court and banned 247 people, a number of ministers among them, from leaving the country as they once again stand accused in cases of corruption and graft under the NAB law following the annulment of the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance. **
The people whose names had been put on the exit control list included the department’s top boss and Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
The names of a host of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen are on the ECL because under the instructions of the Supreme Court, they require to clear their names through an anti-corruption process.
Their cases existed prior to Oct 5, 2007, when NAB courts had been trying them for charges of corruption, kickbacks, commissions and the alleged misuse of authority.
The name of President Asif Ali Zardari has not been put on the ECL because NAB’s legal experts are studying two questions: (i) presidential immunity and (ii) whether immunity would cover cases being tried in foreign courts.
However, president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said it did not matter if the president’s name was put on the ECL. About travelling abroad by the accused, he said that courts could give them permission.
Rehman Malik, a right hand man of President Asif Ali Zardari, was one of the frequent co-travellers on the president’s foreign tours and the inclusion of his name on the ECL would be seen as a big blow for the president as well.
It is ironic that the interior minister on whose order the names of people are put on the ECL himself came on the list.
Usually, the names of accused who are expected to flee the country are put on the ECL by the interior ministry, but the names of NRO beneficiaries were put on the list by the immigration department directly on the orders of NAB.
Sources said the names of 247 NRO beneficiaries would remain on the ECL until their cases were decided by courts. Their names would remain on the ECL even if they get bail from courts, they added.
Among prominent figures whose names have been put on the ECL include Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, president’s principal secretary Salman Farooqi, PML-N MNA Rana Nazir Ahmed, PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badar, PPP vice-president Mir Baz Khetran, former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and Sardar Mansoor Khan Leghari.
The controversial NRO, which provided immunity to politicians and top bureaucrats in cases registered between 1986 and 1999, was promulgated by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in 2007. It had allowed PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to return home.
The NAB said it had resumed its abandoned operations against politicians and bureaucrats involved in white collar crimes and issued special directives to its offices to comply with the Supreme Court orders.
The NAB order said: ‘In compliance with the judgment of the Supreme Court, it is strictly emphasised to immediately initiate all necessary actions for revival of the cases to the position as on 5-10-2007.’
The NAB officers have been directed to submit applications in courts for revival of cases wrapped up under the NRO.
They have been asked to start execution of already issued warrants of arrest against absconders and proclaimed offenders. Joint teams of NAB officials and police were being formed to arrest the wanted people, it added.
Banks and other departments concerned have been asked to freeze bank accounts and property of the accused.
‘There is a possibility that most of the accused have managed to get their assets unfrozen, but the NAB has a complete record of their bank accounts and properties and they will be asked again to hand over their assets to the NAB or pay an equivalent amount of the money,’ the order said.
It has been learnt that the NAB has been given a free hand by the Supreme Court to take any other action required on a case-to-case basis against the NRO beneficiaries.
The bureau, which had become toothless after the government decided to replace it with an accountability commission, appears to have been revived after the Supreme Court verdict.
The Transparency International believed that NAB cannot work independently under the federal government and suggested it should work under the Supreme Court or the Supreme Judicial Council.
**
