NAB gearing up to bring corrupt to book

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal Sunday said NAB was geared up to bring the corrupt to book by adopting ‘Accountability for All’ policy, as corruption was the mother of all evils.

“NAB has no affiliation with any political party, group or individual. The NAB officials have been directed to perform their duties in accordance with the law with the realisation that eradication of corruption is their national duty,” he said in a statement.

The NAB chief said about 1,130 references were under trial in the accountability courts and their approximate worth was Rs943 billion. He said NAB had conducted probe into 56 public limited companies, offshore companies, fake accounts, money laundering and misuse of authority, assets beyond known sources of income and cheating the public at large in illegal housing/ cooperative societies and modaraba scams, etc. He said that plea bargains were deemed conviction, which was approved by the respected accountability courts.

After a plea bargain, he said the accused not only accepts his/ her guilt in writing before the court but also returns the looted money to the national exchequer. He said NAB had great regard for the business community as they were the backbone of the development of any country.

“NAB has established special cells for addressing the complaints of the business community related to NAB,” he said.

He said NAB also respected bureaucracy and directed all concerned to ensure self respect of all persons visiting the NAB offices as per law. He said NAB, during the period of present management of three years, recovered Rs487 billion from the corrupt elements and deposited in the national exchequer, which was a record achievement.

Javed Iqbal said NAB was the chairman of Saarc Anti-Corruption Forum as the Bureau was considered a role model for entire Saarc member states. He said Pakistan and China had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for eradication of corruption. “Pakistan and China are jointly working for ensuring transparency in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects,” he said.

He said NAB was the focal department under the United Nations Convention against corruption, which was a pride for Pakistan. He said NAB had established a state-of-the-art Pakistan Anti-Corruption Training Academy on modern lines to train its investigation officers and prosecutors in order to inquire/ investigate white-collar cases more professionally and to plead them very vigorously in the respected courts on the basis of solid evidence as per law.

He said NAB’s proactive anti-corruption strategy has started yielding positive results. “Due to its effective anti-corruption strategy, NAB has not only recovered Rs714 billion looted money from the corrupt directly and indirectly since its inception,” he said.

He said NAB’s conviction ratio was about 68.6 per cent. It was utilising all its resources to apprehend proclaimed offenders and absconders to bring them to the book as per law. The chairman said that NAB had established its first Forensic Science Lab (FSL) and rationalised its workload. Timelines have been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases, putting a maximum limit of 10 months, which was a challenging target to investigate cases of even white-collar crimes.

He said NAB had also introduced a new system of combined investigation team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, a system of CIT consisting of director, additional director, investigation officer and a senior legal counsel had been put in place.

“This is not only lending quality to the work but has also proved very successful in improving the quality of inquiry and investigations,” he added. He said the comparative figures for the last three years were indicative of the hard work being put in by all ranks of NAB staff in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where fight against corruption is being taken as a national duty.

“Increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trust in NAB besides appreciation of reputed national and international organisations about NAB’s excellent performance,” he said adding that NAB believing in building a corruption-free Pakistan.

He said efforts were being made to achieve the goal by putting in the best of the best efforts with the help of all stakeholders as per law.