KP NAB says Rs2,531m recovered in 3 years

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recovered Rs2,531 million within the last three years.

As per the official data, the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said it had recovered looted money valued at Rs2,531 million from 2014 to 2016 while in the past 13 years the same organization recovered Rs1,415 million only.

Giving the yearly break-up of the recovery of the looted money, the NAB said that the bureau recovered Rs1,415 million from 2000 to 2013, Rs813 million from January 2014 to December 2014, Rs1,337 million from January 2015 to December 2015 and Rs381 million from January 2016 to November 2016.

About the arrests, it said that 424 persons were arrested from 2000 to 2013, while 116 persons were arrested in 2014, 149 in 2015 and 86 were arrested in 2016.

The conviction rate also remained high in the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within the last three years at74 percent, while it was 65.6 percent in the past 13 years.

The NAB Khyber KP arrested 352 persons in the last three years for their alleged involvement in corruption. Those arrested included former provincial ministers, key bureaucrats and senior police officers. The NAB KP arrested 424 persons from 2000 to 2013.

The NAB KP submitted 120 references against the arrested persons in the accountability courts. These included 29 references in 2014, 40 in 2015 and 51 in 2016, while 323 references were filed in 13 years from 2000-2013.

The NAB KP got authorization of 429 inquiries against the suspected persons within the last three years, while it earlier conducted 1,069 inquiries in 13 years.

It authorized 166 investigations in the last three years including 34 in 2013, 82 in 2015 and 50 in 2016.

The NAB KP Director General, Saleem Shahzed, said the aim of the bureau is to ensure “zero corruption” in the province. He said NAB was trying to utilize all its resources and ensure the use of funds on the welfare of the people instead of going into the pockets of corrupt officials.

He said that the NAB through arrests, Voluntary Return, and Plea Bargain had recovered a lot of looted money and put it into the provincial government exchequer.

The NAB director general said they recovered about 90 percent looted money through Voluntary Return and Plea Bargain and a lot less money through courts and conviction.

However, the Supreme Court order on October 24, 2016 was a great setback for the NAB as its chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry was restrained from approving deals for voluntary return (VR), a provision under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, that allows corrupt people to pay some amount of the embezzled money and he was allowed to continue his job without any stigma.