NAB immune to threats, favours: chairman

LAHORE: National Accountability Bureau Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal said Thursday the bureau has been striving to ensure implementation of rule of law.

The chairman said it has been among top priorities of the NAB to ensure compensation for looted money of all affectees, adding that the NAB itself doesn’t believe in projection of any act. He expressed these views during his address after distributing cheques worth Rs 760 million among 3,000 affectees of the Model Housing Enclave Project and the Ferozpur Housing Society at the NAB Lahore office.

He said it is for the first time in the history that the NAB has distributed a huge amount of Rs 2.5 billion, recovered from the accused through plea bargain in only two years. Some elements tried to hatch propaganda against the NAB but the bureau would continue to work on merit, adding that criticism only for the sake of criticism is not justified as there should always be constructive criticism for improvement. He said NAB does not do favours nor fears threats. “Sifarish (pleas for favours) and threats die at NAB’s door,”

He said the NAB has made recoveries from people who were never investigated in the past. The NAB itself has to undergo accountability process as soon as arresting an accused. In cases pertaining to white collar crimes, the court doesn’t issue a 90-day remand, but the remand is granted after production of satisfactory evidence in the court.

Appreciating the performance of the NAB Lahore under the supervision of the DG NAB Lahore, he said distribution of millions of rupees among the affectees, after recovering the money from the culprits in a short span of merely two years is laudable. The happiness on the faces of the affectees has proved that NAB officials are serving the nation by utilizing their energies for returning hard-earned money to the affectees. During the last two years, another amount of Rs 1.32 billion was returned to the affectees of the Model Housing Enclave. NAB was following the path of selfless service to the nation, he added.

Regarding complaints of the business community, the NAB chairman said no businessman in the country ever had to face problems due to NAB, adding that the stock exchange could not make a positive trend if the NAB created problems for the business community. He said the difference between the NAB custody and the judicial custody should be understood. The NAB has put in place special measures to eliminate corruption without any discrimination and such steps would remain continue, he maintained.

Earlier, during his visit to NAB Lahore office, the Combined Investigations Teams (CITs) led by the DG NAB Lahore briefed the NAB chairman on mega corruption cases.