NAB officers asked to utilise all resources in mega corruption cases

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Friday directed NAB officers to utilize all available resources to take mega corruption white collar crime cases to logical conclusion.

“Out of 179 mega corruption cases, 63 were concluded by accountability courts due to vigorous prosecution of the bureau, whereas 95 mega corruption cases are still under trial,” he said while chairing a meeting held to review the overall performance of the NAB at the NAB Headquarters. The meeting was attended by the deputy chairman NAB, the prosecutor general accountability, the director general operations and other senior officials.

Javed directed the regional bureaus to vigorously pursue corruption cases in accountability courts so that the law take its own course. The meeting was informed that the NAB received 15,871 complaints in 2020, approved conducting 1,681 complaint verifications, 1,326 inquiries and 496 investigations and recovered a record Rs 321.4829 billion directly or indirectly from corrupt people in 2020. It was told that the bureau has received 487,964 complaints, conducted 15,930 complaint verifications, 10,041 inquiries and 4,598 investigations since its inception while 3,682 references were filed during the aforementioned period.

The meeting was told that the NAB has introduced a Combine Investigation Team (CIT) system to benefit from the experienced and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers so that the quality of investigations could be improved on the basis of solid evidence. It was told that the NAB has paid attention to imparting training to prosecution and investigation officers.

Javed said the NAB has great regard for the business community as it plays a vital role in the prosperity of the country. He said the NAB is a people-friendly institution. The NAB performance has been lauded by reputed national and international institutions. The NAB has become a role model for Saarc countries in eradication of corruption as Pakistan has become the first chairman of the Saarc Anti-Corruption Forum. He said the NAB is the focal organization of Pakistan under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and Pakistan is the only country with whom China has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for eradication of corruption. He said Pakistan and China are jointly working for ensuring transparency in CPEC projects.