‘NAB recovers Rs814 bn since inception’

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (R) Javed Iqbal Friday said the bureau’s affiliation was not with any political party, group or individual but with the state of Pakistan.

“NAB and Pakistan can go together but NAB and corruption cannot go together,” he said while chairing a meeting that reviewed progress in bringing 179 mega corruption cases to their logical conclusion.

Javed Iqbal said cases of eradication of corruption, abuse of power, money laundering, embezzlement of government funds and large scale fraud fell within the NAB’s purview. The meeting was informed that out of 179 mega corruption cases, 66 mega corruption cases had been brought to their logical conclusion by the accountability courts, while 93 cases were pending with the accountability courts.

The meeting was informed that various accountability courts had fined the accused a total of Rs4.364 billion as per law on the basis of solid evidence in 12 mega corruption cases. Abdul Qadir Tawakal and others were fined Rs613 million, Ishtiaq Hussain of Messrs Buraq Syndicate Rawalpindi and others fined Rs200 million, Pakistan Medical Cooperative Housing Society management and land suppliers Rs70 million, Haris Afzal, son of Sher Muhammad Afzal, and others Rs1 billion, Seth Nisar Ahmed and others Rs179.069 million, Sheikh Mohammad Afzal, Chief Executive/Director Harris Steel Industry Pvt Ltd and others Rs331 million; Raza Habib, Chief Executive, Mrs. Shumaila Messrs. Janat Apparel Pvt Ltd Faisalabad, Rs174 million, Sheikh Muhammad Afzal Rs435 million, Galaxy City Rawalpindi management and others Rs213 million, Ayaz Khan Niazi and others Rs900 million, Syed Mureed Kazim, Ahsanullah, a former senior member of the Board of Revenue and others Rs200 million, while Saeed Akhtar, general manager of Pakistan Railways, and others were fined US3.78 million

While in six cases, NAB recovered a total of Rs7.859 billion from the accused through voluntary returns and deposited it in the national treasury. Among them, the management of Al-Hamra Hills and Eden Builders collected Rs1.902 billion and management and others returned Rs80 million, Amjad Aziz Chief Executive Officer Divine Developers Pvt. Ltd. and others returned Rs313.308 million, Khushal Associates Nowshera and others returned Rs60 million, Shahnawaz Marri, former provincial sports minister Balochistan, gave Rs14 million through plea bargain.

Meanwhile, Riaz Ahmed, former project director, police department, Balochistan, voluntarily returned Rs5.5 billion and the amount was deposited in the national treasury. It was informed in the meeting that according to the law, the accused in 4 mega corruption cases made a plea bargain through which a total of Rs1.256 billion was recovered by the NAB from the accused and deposited in the national treasury.

Syed Masoom Shah, former special assistant to chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and others returned Rs300 million, Messrs. Capital Builders Pvt. Ltd. (New Islamabad Garden, Islamabad) and others contributed Rs440 million, the management and land supplier of Messrs. Teletown Pvt. Rao Fahim Yasin, Rao Nadeem Yasin, Rao Naveed Yasin and all the partners of Messers. Wind Mills Restaurant Lahore and others made a plea bargain of Rs205 million.

Javed Iqbal said since inception, the NAB had deposited Rs814 billion directly and indirectly in the national treasury, which was a testament to the NAB's excellent performance against corrupt institutions.