National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice Mr. Javed Iqbal, on Monday said NAB was committed to make Pakistan corruption free as the fight against corruption was being taken as a national duty.
The chairman NAB expressed this while chairing a meeting to review overall performance of the anti-corruption bureau here at NAB Headquarters.
Justice Iqbal said that NAB’s faith is to make Pakistan corruption-free, by adopting “Accountability for all” policy on the basis of evidence as per the law.
NAB has chalked out a very comprehensive anti-corruption three pronged Strategy comprising Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement for eradication of corruption. He said that NAB has introduced a “Combined Investigation Team” (CIT) system consisting of two investigation officers and a legal consultant, financial expert for a fair and transparent inquiry/ investigation, he added. Justice Iqbal noted that the overall conviction ratio in respected accountability courts is about 68.8 %.
He said that the performance of all Regional Bureau’s of NAB would be conducted on midterm and annual basis at a given criteria under Quantified Grading System in order to review and further improve the performance of officers/officials of NAB.
The chairman revealed that a Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) has been developed for catering the needs of all concerned, having salient features of maintenance of data at each stage including complaint entry, complaint verification, inquiry, investigation, prosecution stage and record preservation of Regional Board Meetings and Executive Board Meetings including case brief.
The Chairman NAB appreciated the devoted efforts of NAB Headquarters and all regional bureaus and directed to double their efforts in eradication of corruption and to recover looted money from corrupt as NAB is determined to make Pakistan corruption free as per law.
The Chairman noted that NAB has recovered Rs. 487 billion from 2018 to 2020 during the tenure of present management, and stated that there are 1,230 references under adjudication in Accountability Courts throughout the country and their approximately worth is of Rs. 47 billion.
NAB had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Higher Education Commission under its Awareness and Prevention Strategy in order to aware students about the ill effects of corruption at an early age, he added. More than 50 thousands character building societies have been established in Universities/Colleges in collaboration with HEC besides establishing prevention committees in order to identify and to plug loopholes in government departments.
The Chairman NAB has directed all regional bureaus of NAB to use all available resources to book corrupt elements and arrest proclaimed offenders and absconders as per law so that they could be brought to justice and to recover looted money and deposit in national exchequer considering this as national duty.
Highlighting NAB’s performance, Justice Iqbal added that as per report of Gillani and Gallup survey, 59 people have shown confidence upon NAB. Pakistan is considered as a role model for SAARC Countries in eradication of Corruption due to NAB’s efforts. World Economic Forum, Transparency International Pakistan, Global Peace Organization, Canda, PILDAT and Mishal Pakistan have appreciated NAB’s efforts against corruption, the chairman added.
Pakistan is the first Chairman of SAARC anti-corruption forum which is a great achievement for Pakistan due to NAB efforts. He said that NAB is the focal organization of Pakistan under United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) which is pride for Pakistan due to NAB efforts. NAB is the only Organization in the world to which China has signed an MOU to oversee CEPC projects in Pakistan. NAB has established its own forensic science Laboratory in NAB Rawalpindi which is helping in improving the quality of investigations on a scientific basis.
During the meeting, it was also informed that Operation and Prosecution Divisions of NAB are working closely in order to have operational and legal assistance to all Regional Bureaus of NAB in conduct of complaint verifications, inquires, investigations as per law and pleading cases of NAB in learned Courts.
