NAB believes in zero tolerance for corruption: chairman

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has said the NAB believes in zero tolerance for corruption.

“The NAB is committed to rooting out corruption with an iron hand in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where fighting against corruption is being taken as a national duty,” he said in a statement on Saturday. He said Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in his address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan had termed corruption and bribery the biggest curses. "Corruption is really a poison. We must put it down with an iron hand," the NAB chairman said, adding that the bureau was established to eradicate corruption in a holistic manner.

He said the NAB is striving to accomplish its mission to rid the nation of corruption. “Its operational methodology has three stages for proceeding of cases – complaint verification, inquiry and investigation.” He said national and international-reputed organizations have acknowledged the hard work, commitment, transparency and merit being put in by NAB officers. “NAB officers should double their efforts in arresting corrupt elements and recovering the public’s hard earned money from them,” he said.

He said that to close the possibility of any single NAB official influencing official business, the new concept of a "Combined Investigation Team" (CIT) was introduced. He said the quality of inquiry and investigation would improve due to the establishment of the NAB's first Forensic Science Lab (FSL) in Islamabad, which “has all facilities of digital forensics, questioned documents and fingerprint analysis that will help produce quality and solid evidence”. The NAB has devised a Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) to monitor its performance. He said the NAB is the only organization with whom China has signed a memorandum of understanding to oversee projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC).

He said the NAB Ordinance 1999's preamble lays emphasis on nabbing the corrupt and recovering the looted money. “The NAB has recovered Rs 814 billion directly and indirectly since its inception and its overall conviction ratio is about 66% in accountability courts.”