NAB to be made effective body against corruption, says chairman

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said on Monday that after a thorough and comprehensive analysis of deficiencies in the structure and operations of the organisation, a reform and restructuring programme was put in place which has not only given a new lease of life to the organisation but also infused a new spirit marked by fairness, objectivity, professionalism and transparency.

“NAB is the apex anti-corruption organisation which was established under NAO to eradicate corruption from the country and due to various reasons, NAB’s working got adversely affected during the previous years. Against this backdrop, the year 2014 was the year of reinvigoration of NAB and the present management of NAB initiated the process of putting NAB back on rails,” he said while addressing the 21st 3-day 21st Director Generals (DGs) Conference of NAB that started here Monday.

The Deputy Chairman, Prosecutor General Accountability (PGA), all DGs of NAB Regional Bureaus and Headquarter participated in the Conference. During the first day several policy issues were discussed in detail. All DGs were involved and gave their valuable suggestions/input on the basis of their practical experiences.

Chairman NAB said that the measures taken by present management such as introduction of Combined Investigation Teams (CIT), review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) making them relevant to the current times, clearly defined Job Descriptions, rational time lines for completing inquiries and investigations, capacity building trainings tailored around specific job requirements and rationalisation of workload has started showing results. “An objective appraisal system – Partly Quantified Grading System – and the Internal Accountability Mechanism (IAM) has improved quality of the output considerably with fewer instances of highhandedness and unprofessional conduct. He said that the tempo and momentum generated in 2014 has been sustained to date,” he added.

During the conference, Chairman NAB reviewed performance of NAB Bureaus and NAB Headquarter and status of implementation of the decisions taken in 20th DG conference and found that most of the decisions were implemented in letter and spirit.

He stressed the importance of team work and said that the Prosecution Division has been strengthened in order to evolve a strong mechanism for nabbing the corrupt.He said efforts have been made to boost the morale of officers/officials as NAB officers are now being sent on professional courses and trainings, thus leading to better efficiency, he added.

He said that holding of the conference will not only provide an opportunity to all DGs to have interaction with each other but to review their last year’s performance and shortcomings if any which will be deliberated in detail and will help in overcoming their shortcomings in order to discharge their national duty and future course of action with firm resolve to eradicate corruption as well as to set targets for future working.

He said that in the last DG Conference, two new regions at Multan and Sukkur were deliberated and their establishment was achieved successfully. Prosecution was also given targets and as a result of endeavours, the accountability court conviction ratio is now 77%. He said that we have decided to automate our system and computerised monitoring and evaluation system (MES) was introduced in all Regional NABs. “A pilot Project of NAB Rawalpindi was completed. The outcome of the pilot project will be shared during the meeting. Continuous efforts are required to implement this system across NAB in order to further improve the working of NAB and due to this reason, CPI as per TI report of 2015 has decreased from 126 to 117,” he added.

Similarly, he said the Pildat in its report said that 42 percent people have trust in NAB and this is remarkable achievement.He appreciated and acknowledged the devoted efforts of all concerned and said, “Expectations of the nation are very high from us as corruption is mother of all evils. We need to redouble our efforts to make NAB even better organisation. We will set up targets and milestones which will cover short & long term goals,” he added.