Initiatives taken by NAB management to eradicate corruption

Islamabad

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) under the present leadership of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, chairman NAB had chalked out a comprehensive and proactive strategy National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement, says a press release.

The purpose of NAB’s efforts is to root out corruption from the country and make all the public and private institutions to serve the general public on merit , having no complaint of ‘bribe or greed’ against them from the public. NAB during the period of present management almost two and half years have received Rs. 45 billion from corrupt and deposited in national exchequer which is a record achievement. The figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations are almost double as compared to the same period of 2015 to 2016. The comparative figures for the latest two and half years are indicative of the hard work being put in by all ranks of NAB staff in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where fight against corruption is being taken as a national duty. Increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trusted in the NAB.

NAB’s prime focus is on cases of cheating public at large by fraudulent financial companies, bank frauds, wilful bank loan defaults, misuse of authority and embezzlement of state funds by Government servants etc. Since NAB’s inception, one of NAB’s major achievements has been the recovery of around Rs285 billion of ill-gotten money which was deposited in the national exchequer which is a remarkable achievement of NAB. NAB’s operational methodology comprises of complaint verification, inquiry and investigation. NAB’s officers/officials need to follow strict Code of Conduct/SOPs and merit according to law. Starting from the year 2014 which can be called basically a year of reinvigoration of NAB, we have moved with new zeal and effort.

NAB has established its first Forensic Science Lab (FSL) in NAB Rawalpindi which has facilities of Digital Forensics, Questioned Documents and Fingerprint Analysis. NAB has rationalized its workload and timelines have been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases putting a maximum limit of 10 months - from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to-investigation and finally to a reference in the Accountability Court. NAB has also introduced a new System of Combine Investigation Team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, a system of CIT comprising of Director, Additional Director, Investigation Officer and a Senior Legal Counsel has been put in place. This is not only lending quality to the work but also ensuring that no single individual can influence the official proceedings of NAB.

As per the latest report of Transparency International (TI) of 2016, Pakistan’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has improved plus 9 points, adding that Pakistan was considering role model in South Asian countries in its efforts against corruption. This is a great achievement for Pakistan due to NAB efforts. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in the Pakistan as per Transparency International (TI), report was declining after 2013 due to steps taken by the present management of NAB against the corrupt. Besides Transparency International, the Independent National and International watch dogs like PLIDAT and World Economic Forum had also appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to curb corruption in Pakistan.

To create Awareness against the ill effects of corruption among the youth of Pakistan which is our future, NAB in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2014 and in a very short span of time established over 42, 000 Character Building Societies (CBSs) in the country in universities, colleges and schools to create awareness against corruption as youth are considered a vanguard in this fight. NAB has target that the number of Character Building Societies (CBS) should reach at least at 50 thousands in 2017 in order to aware students about the ill effects of corruption.

Under the leadership of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB, NAB has undertaken a number of strategic initiatives aimed at rejuvenation of the organization. The Organogram was revisited to transform NAB into an efficient and responsive organization. NAB has devised a Quantifiable Grading System (QGS) to monitor the performance of all Regions of NAB on annual basis. From 2015, under Quantifiable Grading System (QGS) NAB is monitoring the performance of all regional NAB’s and NAB headquarter on annual basis in order to know the strengths and weaknesses of NAB regional Bureaus. NAB has also introduced Internal Accountability Mechanism (IAM) System.