NAB cannot be blamed for country’s economic woes: Javed

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has said the anti-corruption watchdog should not be blamed for country’s economic woes, as it was an apolitical organisation working to eradicate corruption.

Brushing aside the allegations that the anti-graft body was intimidating business community, Justice Iqbal said at a press conference the NAB was a people-friendly institution committed to protect business community. He said the NAB had set up special desks at all bureaus across the country to redress grievances of entrepreneurs. He further said the anti-graft body had already been directed to immediately address complaints of the business community; however no complaint had so far been received in this regard.

Justice Iqbal said the NAB had decided to avoid summoning businessmen. Only questionnaire would be sent to the suspects and on receiving unsatisfactory answer the suspects would be summoned, he added. He, however, said the anti-corruption watchdog would take the cases of money laundering to their logical conclusion without bowing to any pressure.

The anti-graft watchdog, he said, would make all out efforts to get country’s name excluded from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) by preventing money laundering.

Justice Iqbal said the bureau would do utmost to improve country’s image which had been damaged badly by the money launderers, expressing resolve that such elements would not be spared rather punished at every cost. The NAB chairman said the bureau strongly believed in respect of people and never disgraced any individual.

Commenting on the allegations that the NAB was intimidating business community, he said the bureau never intervened into telegraphic transfers (TTs) of any businessman; however it had the right to ask any person having assets beyond known sources of income, especially from the public office holder.

He reiterated the bureau had never harassed leading businessmen. However, he added, questions would have to be raised when a project worth Rs5,000 was completed in Rs 500,000. The NAB could not keep silence if billions of rupees were deposited in the account of a “Faloda wala” (ice cream vendor), he added.

He said the NAB and corruption could not go together, adding Pakistan was a poor country and indebted $100 billion, the debts would have to be paid by the people of the country. “Questioning the corrupt is not a crime. Extraordinary foreign debts are a national crisis and people should make joint efforts to address the issue,” he said, adding the NAB always welcomed constructive criticism.

Justice Iqbal said the NAB had recovered and returned over Rs 2.5 billion of small investors after recovering from the looters. Admitting some lapses in the NAB, he said efforts were being made to remove the flaws identified to improve its working.

About allegations the NAB arrests suspects despite lack of evidence, he said Accountability Court granted remand to the NAB after evaluating incriminating evidences. He said the NAB had concrete evidence against some suspects who already fled the country after smelling that the bureau had sufficient evidences against them.

The NAB should not be blamed for delay in cases as only 25 judges were hearing 1,250 corruption references, he said, adding the NAB was being blamed bureaucracy had stopped working due to the bureau’s harassment. The NAB chief said he himself visited across the country to remove apprehensions of public servants.

During the visit, the NAB chairman said, he had asked bureaucrats to work in accordance with law and nobody would question them, advising them to devise a mechanism of internal accountability within the department. The NAB would have to question a bureaucrat if millions of rupees were recovered from his home, he said, and urged the government to avoid giving top positions to suspects who were already on NAB’s radar.