Taking mega corruption cases to logical end top priority of NAB

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (R) Javed Iqbal said that as many as 1,210 corruption references were in various accountability courts and the NAB has decided to file early hearing plea of the pending corruption cases in the accountability court.

"Taking mega corruption cases to logical conclusion was the priority number one of the NAB and the directives have already been issued to bureau’s all director generals to arrest proclaimed offenders," he said in a statement on Sunday.

The NAB chairman said the bureau has deposited Rs71 billion in the national exchequer in last 22 months, besides filing 600 corruption references in various accountability courts. He said the average conviction ratio of bureau’s cases was over 70 percent, which was unprecedented as comparing to other anti-corruption institutions.

He said NAB was performing its duties without any discrimination and bureau does not consider face but only evaluates case as per law. "Top most priority of NAB was to eradicate corruption from the country and all possible measures were being taken to achieve this goal," he said.

The NAB chairman said the NAB has returned billion of rupees to the persons looted by illegal housing societies and 43 suspects involved in Mudarba and Musharka scams had been apprehended. "References have also been filed against them in the respected accountability courts aiming to ensure that the looted amount could be timely returned to the people," he said.

According to Gallup and Gillani, he said 59 percent persons have expressed satisfaction over the performance of NAB.

The National Accountability Bureau chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has detailed that 600 corruption references were filed during the last 22 months. Javed Iqbal, while talking to media, said that the anti-corruption watchdog has prioritised conclusive end of the mega corruption cases in order to eliminate financial irregularities across the country. He said that the approximate ratio of penalising corrupt elements from the courts stands at 70 per cent while NAB is following the policy of reviewing the genre of the cases but not its fees. â??Rs71 billion has been submitted to the national exchequer which was recovered during the last 22 months and further steps are being adopted to uproot corruption. The institution has recovered billions of rupees from the illegal housing societies and returned to the affected people. “I have ordered director-generals to make early arrests of proclaimed offenders. At least 1,210 corruption references are under hearing in the accountability courts. We have now decided to submit pleas for early hearings of the pending cases,” Iqbal said. Earlier on August 29, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman had said the anti-graft watchdog had recovered over Rs71 billion from the corrupt elements during the last 20 months. Chairing a meeting at NAB Lahore office, Javed Iqbal said that the money revered from the plunderers had been submitted in the national exchequer. Hailing the performance of NAB Lahore bureau, Javed Iqbal said that all resources were being utilized to eliminate corruption in the country. On the occasion, he reiterated that taking mega corruption cases to their logical end was NAB’s top priority.