NAB committed to eradication of corruption

PILDAT president calls on chairman

Islamabad

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President of Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) called on Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB at NAB Headquarters, says a press release.

The Chairman NAB in his welcome remarks said that NAB gives value to the interaction with organisations like PILDAT whose position is rated high in the professional circles. “We at NAB feel that such interaction with reputed organisation will bring an idea to take one’s work at better height,” he added.

Chairman NAB said that corruption is mother of all evils. NAB in committed in eradication of corruption in all its manifestations by implementing. He said Pakistan is signatory to the United Nation Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and NAB is the focal department for implementation of the said convention i.e. UNCAC. The Operation Division of NAB gave detailed presentation on the compliance by Pakistan on UNCAC. Pakistan has signed the Convention in 2003 and ratified in 2007 and became a State Party to the Convention along with 154 other states. Ratification of UNCAC has enabled Pakistan to effectively benefit from its mechanisms of international cooperation to combat corruption and to effect recovery of assets placed by the corrupt in foreign jurisdictions.

The Chairman NAB said that under the impetus of UNCAC, UNODC conducts country reviews of countries to enhance the legal frame work regarding matters of International and Transnational Corruption as well as designing, sharing and enhancing tools of mutual assistance for technical assistance, fast track sharing of information and Asset Recovery. He said that NAB being Focal Agency had conducting the Country Review of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. He said that Country review is a mandatory requirement under the review mechanism devised in accordance with Article 63 Paragraph 7 of the Convention to assess the implementation status of UNCAC, based on TORs of the Review Mechanism. UNCAC review mechanism is based on peer-review system and experts of any two countries (selected through balloting) are conducting review of Anti-corruption laws and mechanisms / procedures of country under review to assess its implementation of the provisions of UNCAC.

He said Pakistan’s Country Review was conducted by reviewing experts (i.e. Norway and Solomon Islands) and UNODC experts / facilitators was arranged / conducted in September 2015 with the approval of Govt. of Pakistan. All the local governmental experts (i.e. focal persons of 10 x Federal & Provincial Ministries / Departments / Agencies) also participated in said discussions. After country visit, meeting was convened at NAB Headquarters on November 30, 2015 for follow-up on country review. All the observations raised by reviewing experts during country visit were discussed in presence of all national stakeholders. Subsequently observations were responded to reviewers through UNODC Secretariat on December 30, 2015 for preparing final drafts of CRR. He said as per Paragraph 34 of ToRs of UNCAC Review Mechanism, consensus CRR and Executive Summary (ES) has been submitted to Prime Minister routed through Ministry of Law and other relevant Ministries for approval / concurrence and after conveying the concurrence of Government of Pakistan the country review under first cycle would be considered finalised.

Chairman NAB said the figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations are almost double as compared to the same period of 2015 to 2017. The comparative figures for the latest three 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.

He said that 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 Rs287 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. Through detailed introspection and analysis of organizational weaknesses, overhaul of procedures and business processes, all pillars of the organization i.e. operations, prosecution, human resource development and awareness and prevention have been reactivated.

He said that NAB has rationalised 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 will not only lend quality to the work but also ensure that no single individual can influence the proceedings.

Senior Member CI&MT and Advisor to Chairman NAB on MES also gave presentation about the indigenously designed Monitoring and Evaluation System in NAB on the directions of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB and its efficacy in the effective working of NAB.

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President of Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) appreciated the efforts of NAB under the leadership of Mr. Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB in eradication of corruption from the country and thanked for valuable briefing on compliance of UNCAC and consensus CRR and Executive Summary (ES) of Pakistan under Country Review Programme.