Flour, sugar scams to be taken to logical end: NAB chief

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal Sunday vowed to take the ongoing flour and sugar scam investigations to logical conclusion as per law.

In a statement issued here, he said in Modarba case, the innocent and gullible people were deprived of their lifelong savings in the name of Islamic investment. The people were befooled and looted on persuasion of getting heavy returns on their invested money," he added.

He said in the Mufti Ehsan case, the court awarded 10 years imprisonment and Rs10 billion fine as the NAB prosecutors presented a strong case before the court.

He said money-laundering of billions of rupees was one of the major reasons for lack of development in the country. “Concrete evidence of billions of rupees money-laundering are available. Billions of rupees were laundered by opening fake accounts in the names of falooda wala, chhabri wala and paupar wala,” he added.

The NAB chief said the Bureau investigated white-collar mega corruption cases, and time was required to probe such cases as some information needed to be collected from abroad. He said Quaid -e-Azam Muhammad ALI Jinnah, in his Constituent Assembly speech, had identified bribery and nepotism as main issues of the country. He said corruption was the principal reason behind all ills being confronted by the country. "There is a difference between white-collar crimes and street crimes," he said.

He said NAB was the focal institution of Pakistan under the UN Convention against corruption and the chairman of SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum. He said NAB was considered a role model organisation in the SAARC countries.

He said the International Economic, Transparency International Pakistan, PILDAT, Mishal Pakistan had lauded the anti-graft watchdog’s anti-corruption endeavours. "NAB has so far deposited Rs714 billion since its inception, which is being termed a great achievement," he said.

He said some 1,243 corruption cases, having accumulative corruption volume of Rs943 billion, were under trial in various accountability courts. He said NAB had constituted a combined investigation team (CIT) to benefit from the collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers.

"The CIT has the services of director, additional director, investigation officer, legal counsel and experts of monetary and land revenue departments," he said.

He said that NAB officers were working with dedication and commitment as per law. "NAB is on the right track due to commitment of its officials," he added.