NAB chief terms bribery, corruption ‘poison’

Islamabad: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal Tuesday described bribery and corruption as really poison, saying "We must put it down with an iron hand.

"Father of nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had also termed bribery and corruption as "one of the biggest curses. Chairing a meeting here, he said NAB was committed to corruption free Pakistan and would recover looted money from corrupt persons and bring them to justice as per law.

He said the Bureau has chalked out a comprehensive operational methodology for proceeding of cases complaint verification, inquiry and investigation. The chairman said to close possibility of any single NAB officer/official influencing discharge of official business, the concept of a "Combined Investigation Team" (CIT) has been introduced where two investigation officers and a legal consultant are working as a team for a fair, transparent and unbiased, inquiry/ investigation.

He said due to NAB’s efforts, national and international organizations have rated decrease in Pakistan’s Corruption Perception Index from 175 to 116. Pakistan is the only country whose corruption perception index is persistently on declining trend.

NAB had been unanimously elected as chairman of SAARC Anti Corruption Forum which is the great achievement. Justice (r) Javed said NAB has apprehended various corrupt and presented them before the respective Accountability Courts as per law.

He said NAB with improved infrastructure and rationalised workload, timelines has been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases.