‘NAB committed to corruption-free country’

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, has said those who could not be touched in the past are now being questioned about their illegal money, abuse of power, accumulation of assets and money laundering in accordance with the law.

“Our country has suffered billions of dollars losses but no one knows where the money was spent, while the NAB has been pursuing cases of those who had nothing in 1980 but now they own huge palaces,” the NAB chairman said in a statement on Sunday. He said from where did they get such a huge amount of money while the NAB had started investigating their assets and money they had accumulated.

He said not before now, anyone could have dared to ask them about their alleged source of income, but they have now been questioned about their illegal money, misuse of power, accumulation of assets beyond their known income, money laundering and looting the national exchequer.

Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal said the NAB has been striving to eradicate corruption from the country without being influenced by the big fishes or powerful individuals and has been dealing with them according to the existing law. He said the business community is the backbone of the country, which has been playing an important role in the development of the country.

He said the NAB has been referring the business community matters, especially cases relating to sales tax, income tax and under invoicing to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). He said the NAB committed to eradicate corruption from the country and had zero tolerance against corruption and corrupt practices.

The chairman NAB said, “Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had termed bribery and nepotism as a curse, which is a poison for society and we need to deal this menace with iron hands."

He said the NAB's anti-corruption drives have been lauded and recognised by the national and international organisations such as Transparency International Pakistan, World Economic Forum, PILDAT and Mashal Pakistan. Referring to the Gilani & Gallup poll, he said 59 percent people trust the NAB. He said the NAB had recovered Rs487 billion during the last three years under the leadership of the incumbent government directly and indirectly.