NAB to end corruption in Pakistan, says chairman

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman, Justice (R) Javed Iqbal, Friday said the Bureau committed to logical disposal of mega corruption white collar crime cases by putting double efforts for ensuring corruption free Pakistan.

The NAB chairman chaired the fortnightly meeting to review NAB’s performance operation, prosecution and all regional bureaus of NAB at its Headquarters. During the meeting, it was informed that Bureaus’ Operation and Prosecution Divisions 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 as per law.

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. NAB Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal said that it is the only organisation 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. Due to this reason, he said, NAB first time in a year filed 600 corruption references in respected Accountability courts.

The NAB chairman directed all investigation officers to have a case diary of each case which is very important and will helpful them in improving the quality of inquiry and investigation as per law.

During the meeting, it was informed that on the directions of the NAB Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal, the Prosecution Division has been revamped by inducting experienced legal consultants/special prosecutors. “A mechanism of handling of witnesses has been established in all the regional bureaus and the result of this intervention is very encouraging,” he said and added that due to constant deliberations, monitoring and performance analysis of Prosecution Division, the overall conviction ratio is approximately 70 per cent in the respected Accountability courts which is one of the best conviction ratio.

The chairman said that NAB has established libraries at NAB Headquarters 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. “The NAB plans to have access with Higher Education Commission (HEC) Library which will be beneficial for NAB prosecutors in future,” he said.

The NAB chairman 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.

The NAB chairman said that it recognises the centrality of training as a tool of improvement and maintaining the quality of its manpower. He said that NAB gives top most priority to the training of its Investigation officers/ prosecutors. He said that a standardised syllabus for all investigation officers, refresher and capacity building courses on accounts matters, General Financial Rules, FR, SR, Digital Forensic Question documents and Finger Print Analysis has been formulated by NAB to ensure quality and uniformity. He said due to continuous training programmes of investigation officers and prosecutors on modern lines, it is lending positive results.