NAB deposited Rs714b in national kitty

ISLAMABAD: The NAB decided that the Operations and Prosecution Divisions will jointly supervise investigation officers and prosecutors in all regional bureaus of the NAB and will pursue cases in coordination with law after collecting evidence, verified documents and in the light of witnesses’ statement.

The decision was taken in a meeting Wednesday chaired by NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal (retd) which also reviewed the performance of the NAB headquarters and all regional bureaus and also reviewed under trial cases in accountability courts.

The meeting was also attended by NAB’s Deputy Chairman Hussain Asghar, Prosecutor General Accountability Syed Asghar Haider, Operations Director General Zahir Shah whereas all DGs of regional bureaus attended the meeting via video link.

The meeting also reviewed improving the standard of conducting complaint verifications, inquiries, investigations and filing of references on the basis of solid evidence as per law. It was decided to impart courses for capacity-building of investigation officers and prosecutors to enable to meet modern day requirements as per law. The meeting decided to further improve the functioning of the forensic science laboratory so that the standard of inquiries and investigations could be further improved on a scientific basis.

NAB chairman directed for utilising all available resources for concluding mega corruption white collar cases on scientific basis so that the corrupt elements could be punished. He also directed that the complaint verifications, inquiries and investigations should be taken to a logical conclusion by taking the benefit of the collective wisdom of the Combined Investigation Team. “Proper monitoring of the performance of NAB headquarters and all regional bureaus would be ensured on the directives of the chairman by ensuring persistent vigilance and required legal assistance could be provided if required,” he added. He said there are more than 1230 references under trial in different accountability courts of the country and Rs714 billion have been recovered from corrupt persons which were deposited in the national exchequer. He directed all bureaus to ensure that the cases should be pursued in an effective way and make all out efforts for recovering looted money from corrupt persons as per law and subsequently deposit it in the national exchequer which is our national duty. “The performance of the NAB has been lauded by reputed national and international institutes,” he added. He said the increase in receipt of complaints as compared to previous year shows enhanced confidence of people in the anti-graft body. He said the NAB is a people-friendly institute. “All the citizens visiting the NAB should be dealt with respect and no laxity will be tolerated in this connection,” he further added.