Corruption breeds poverty, undermines social and economic development: NAB

Islamabad : Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, Chairman NAB has said that corruption breeds poverty, undermines the social and economic development of the country. NAB being the focal agency of Pakistan under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is determined to weed out this scourge of corruption and to make Pakistan Corruption free by adopting the 'Accountability for All' policy.

NAB being the apex anti-corruption agency and mandated to eliminate corruption, corrupt practices, is operating through a three-pronged strategy of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement. In order to eradicate this evil from society, it has consistently engaged all stakeholders and is incessantly combating this national menace with unflinching resolve through its multi-pronged strategy, which has started yielding remarkable results. In addition, NAB has played the role of a torch-bearer for other anti-corruption organizations by putting a maximum limit of 10 months for expeditious disposal of - white-collar mega corruption cases.

In order to discourage money laundering; it has established "Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML & CFT) Cell". This shows the Bureau's commitment and compliance towards the resolution of the international community. NAB is also the founding Chairman of the SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum and is a role model for SAARC countries. It is also pointed out that due to its strong resolve against corruption, the Bureau's endeavours have been appreciated and endorsed by different reputed national and international organizations like PILDAT, Mishal Pakistan, Transparency International, World Economic Forum that testifies people's confidence and trust upon NAB's performance. Similarly, having confidence in the impressive performance of NAB, China has also signed an MoU with NAB to oversee CPEC projects being undertaken in Pakistan.

He said that under Section-33 of NAO, 1999, NAB is mandated for awareness and prevention. Under NAB's Awareness and Prevention Strategy, NAB has engaged different Governmental, Non-Governmental Organizations, Civil Society, and other segments of society to join hands with NAB's awareness and prevention drive to create awareness among the people, especially the youth, Universities/Colleges, and schools students. In this regard, an MoU with HEC has also been signed by NAB to create awareness among students against corruption as youth is considered a cutting edge in this fight. Due to this effective three-pronged anti-corruption strategy, NAB since its inception, NAB has recovered an amount of Rs814 billion directly and indirectly while in the year 2020, it has recovered Rs. 323 billion directly and indirectly as per law. Besides this, currently, 1273 references are under process in Accountability Courts. In addition, NAB's conviction ratio is about 66 percent, which is one of the best conviction ratios as compared to other sister organizations.