Corruption, terrorism have close nexus, says NAB chairman

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal on Saturday vowed to eliminate menace of corruption from the country and said that Pakistan would be stronger by carrying out the campaign against corruption.

“There is no doubt that the corruption and terrorism have a close link as the illegal money earned through corruption is used in terrorist activities so the menace of corruption should be rooted out from the country to make the country stronger,” he said in a talk with The News/Jang here.

NAB chairman said that he would take all the provinces into confidence on the accountability process as the whole country came under the scope of the NAB.

He said it was encouraging that campaign against corruption was moving forward in the country while the awareness about corruption was being initiated in other countries including Saudi Arab.

Endorsing the decree of the Saudi Ulema Council in which they declared that the fight against corruption is same like fighting against terrorism, NAB chairman said and added there was no doubt that corruption and terrorism had a nexus.

Justice (R) Javed Iqbal said that the principle of "Accountability for All" would be strictly implemented and whosoever was found involved in corruption would face accountability. "NAB is not meant for victimisation and we will ensure to restore its prestige," he noted.

NAB should work on the basis of transparency, gather evidence and complete inquiries and investigations so that corrupt elements could be sentenced by respective accountability courts, high courts and Supreme Court of Pakistan on the basis of solid proofs. “The proper prosecution of cases would increase reputation of the NAB,” he added.

NAB chairman after assuming charge has initiated reforms to revamp the NAB and recently approved the comprehensive quality grading system to review the annual performance of all the officers and officials of the NAB posted at headquarters and regional offices.

Under the grading system, the performance of the officials of the regional Bureaus of the NAB in the year 2017 would be examined with the purpose to point out the weaknesses and mistakes of the Regional Bureaus of the NAB as well as of their officials and action would be taken according to law against those officials who failed to perform their duties and found irresponsible in performing their tasks.

Justice (R) Javed Iqbal said that he would hear people’s complaints on every last Thursday of the month from 2:00pm to 4:00pm at NAB headquarters and all the senior officials of the NAB would also be present.

NAB asked the people to bring their national Identity cards along with their applications with solid evidence.

NAB chairman vowed to follow the principle of “Accountability to All” and he would strictly implement it.