NAB threshold for corruption inquiry rises to around Rs800 million after inflation-linked amendment: report

The National Accountability Bureau is expected to lose jurisdiction over a large number of corruption cases after an amendment linking its financial threshold to inflation raised the effective limit to around Rs800 million, The News reported. 

The law previously allowed NAB to take cognizance of cases involving at least Rs500 million. However, an amendment to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 introduced an annual adjustment mechanism based on inflation, effective from July 1, 2022.

Under the revised provision in Section 5, the Rs500 million threshold is indexed to the inflation rate published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Officials say inflation since 2022 has increased the practical limit to approximately Rs800 million.

As a result, cases involving amounts below this revised threshold may no longer fall within NAB’s jurisdiction. This includes ongoing investigations, inquiries, and references pending before accountability courts.

However, the accountability bureau has not issued an official statement on the impact of the revised threshold.

Earlier, NAB had proposed reducing the minimum threshold to Rs300 million to expand its scope of cases. That proposal was not approved.

Instead, lawmakers opted to link the threshold to inflation, effectively increasing the qualifying amount over time. Officials have not provided a formal explanation for the change.