The National Legislative Assembly unanimously endorsed by 160 votes a bill which seeks to set up Criminal Court for Corruption and Malfeasance Cases.
Under the bill, the existing division in the Criminal Court which deals with corruption and malfeasance cases will be upgraded into Criminal Court and all the corruption cases will fall under the jurisdiction of the new court.
The new Criminal Court will have jurisdiction over the following cases:
criminal cases in which state officials are charged with malfeasance in office or irregularities; criminal cases in which state officials are charged with money laundering, violations of laws regarding bidding and joint venture between private and government sectors; criminal cases in which individuals are charged with giving, receiving or demanding bribes, intimidating, coercing or using influence to force state officials to act or not to act in accordance with the Criminal Code; cases of deliberately refusing to declare assets, falsely declaring assets or covering up assets that should have been declared.
