ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan Monday directed the Lahore High Court (LHC) to decide on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) jurisdiction regarding probe of Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) privatisation within three months.
A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ayesha A Malik heard the case filed by the NAB against Mian Muhammad Mansha over suspension of inquiry proceedings Initiated by NAB.
During the course of proceedings, the court directed the LHC to decide whether NAB had authority to investigate the privatisation of MCB.
The court also rejected NAB’s plea to vacate stay order of the LHC. The Chief Justice said that the matter of stay order would automatically lapse when the jurisdiction was decided. NAB Prosecutor Jehanzaib Bharwana said that the NAB launched an inquiry against privatisation on orders of the Supreme Court. He said that the MCB’s privatisation was against the rules.
Justice Mansoor said that according to the records the NAB remained absent from local commission.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that the matter before the Supreme Court was a matter of jurisdiction and not of merit. He said that the court had directed the high court to decide on the jurisdiction matter soon as the matter had been pending for six years.
