Court returns Punjab Highway Dept reference to NAB

LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday returned a Punjab Highway Department corruption reference to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over lack of jurisdiction. The court directed the bureau to take up the matter with the relevant forum for further action. The court also granted bail to the accused and directed to submit surety bonds for the purpose. The court held that the matter didn’t fall under its jurisdiction as per amended National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 2022. Accountability Court Judge Ali Zulqarnain passed the orders while deciding an application filed by the accused, Mian Abdul Rauf and others, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter. The accused had filed the application under the amended NAO, saying that the accountability court was not empowered to hear any reference involving an amount below Rs 500 million, under the amended law. They submitted that the reference amount was below Rs 500 million and it did not come under the jurisdiction of the court. The NAB had filed the reference against the accused over embezzlement of millions of rupees in the government funds.