NAB committed to eradicate white-collar crime: chairman

Islamabad: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal chaired a meeting to review monthly performance of NAB at NAB Headquarters, says a press release.

During the meeting, it was informed that Operation and Prosecution Divisions of NAB are working closely in order to have legal assistance to NAB’s Operations Division and all Regional Bureaus of NAB in conduct of complaint verifications, inquires, investigations as per law and laid down SOPs, pleading cases of NAB in Accountability Courts, High Courts and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

It was informed that on the directions of the NAB chairman, Prosecution Division has been revamped by inducting experienced legal consultants/special prosecutors. A mechanism of handling of witnesses has been introduced and the result of this intervention is very encouraging. He said that due to constant deliberations, monitoring and performance analysis of Prosecution Division, the overall conviction ratio is approximately 70 percent in the respected accountability courts, which is one of the best conviction ratio.

It was informed 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. He said that NAB is the only organization which has prescribed a maximum time limit of 10 months for expeditious disposal of mega corruption white-collar crime cases which is a challenging task but we are committed to beat the clock by putting hard work and ensuring corruption free Pakistan as per law. He said that NAB has also introduced Combine Investigation Team (CIT) system in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers. This system is not only lending quality to the work but also ensuring that no single individual can influence the official proceedings of NAB.

The NAB chairman said that NAB has established libraries at NAB Headquarter and all Regional Bureaus of NAB in order to facilitate Prosecutors and Investigation Officers in collection of relevant information for expeditious disposal of cases as per laid down rules/laws. He said that NAB has appointed research officers for assistance in preparation of cases as per law.

NAB has also established an E-Library at NAB Headquarters having more than 50,000 electronic books related to Law Journals, yearly law reports and monthly law reports etc. NAB plans to have access with Higher Education Commission (HEC) Library which will be beneficial for NAB prosecutors in future.

The NAB chairman said that after through detailed introspection and analysis of organisational weaknesses, overhauling of procedures and processes, all pillars of the organisation i.e. Operations, Prosecution, Human Resource Development and Awareness and Prevention Division have been reactivated. He said that NAB has devised and implemented an effective Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) in NAB Headquarters and all Regional Bureaus in order to review their performance in qualitative and quantitative terms, which has proved very successful in enhancing the performance of all Divisions of NAB including Regional Bureaus. He said that NAB is absolutely committed to work transparently, fairly, professionally as Pakistan is considered as role model for SAARC Countries in eradication of Corruption due to NAB’s efforts and Pakistan’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) according to Transparency International Report has been decreased from 175 to 116. Pakistan is the first Chairman of SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum which is great achievement for Pakistan due to NAB efforts.