ISLAMABAD, April 2: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to explain if former minister for petroleum and natural resources Anwar Saifullah, facing a corruption reference, could benefit from the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

The NRO was promulgated by President Pervez Musharraf on October 5, 2007 to give immediate relief to slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in Rawalpindi on December 27 and other public office-holders charged in different corruption cases between 1986 to 1999 by giving them indemnity in all such cases.

On Wednesday a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Ijazul Hassan and Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf had taken up an appeal moved by NAB against the acquittal of Anwar Saifullah of corruption charges.

An accountability court had awarded one-year imprisonment with a fine of Rs5 million to the former minister on appointing 145 people in violation of rules in the oil and gas sector. However, the sentence was later set aside by a high court.

Being aggrieved, NAB moved the appeal against annulment of the conviction before the Supreme Court, seeking restoration of Saifullah’s conviction. The appeal was pending in the Supreme Court for the last seven years.

Advocate Khawaja Haris Ahmad, representing Anwar Saifullah, pleaded before the apex court that the corruption reference against his client was hit by the NRO and therefore it should not be pursued.

Last year the Supreme Court headed by deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had issued bailable arrest warrants against Anwar Saifullah for not appearing in court in the accountability case.

Meanwhile a separate bench comprising Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar, Justice Mohammad Akhtar Shabbir and Justice Zia Perwez requested the chief justice to constitute a larger bench to settle an election dispute between Lt-Gen (retired) Mohammad Salahuddin Tirmizi of the PML-N and Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf of PML-Q in constituency NA-20 Mansehra-1.

The bench had taken up the petition of Salahuddin Tirmizi seeking review of its March 17 order of rejecting his petition in which directions were also issued to the Election Commission of Pakistan to declare his opponent Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf of the PML-Q as the successful candidate.

The bench referred the case to the chief justice for constitution of a larger bench on the request of Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum who appeared as a private counsel for Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf (respondent). Sardar Latif Khan Khosa appeared for Mr Tirmizi (petitioner).