NAB’s anti-corruption drive helped recover Rs538 bn: Chairman

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal said the bureau’s anti-corruption strategy proved successful resulting in the recovery of Rs538 billion from corrupt elements during the tenure of the present management.

Chairing a meeting to review the performance of NAB’s Operations and Prosecution Divisions here Monday, Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal said the Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan had termed corruption and bribery one of the biggest curses.

"That really is a poison. We must put it down with an iron hand," he said, adding that the NAB was established to eradicate corruption in a holistic and integrated manner as NAB strongly believes in zero tolerance in eradicating 100%corruption.

He said that NAB was 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.

During the meeting, it was informed by DG Operations that NAB had received 496,460 complaints since its inception, out of which 487,124 were disposed of. He told the committee that NAB has authorized 16,093 Complaint Verification (CVs), while 15,378 Complaint Verifications were completed. He told the committee that NAB has authorized 10,241 inquiries, out of which 9,275 inquiries have been completed, authorized 4,654 investigations, out of which 4,358 investigations have been completed.

It was informed that it had recovered Rs. 819.793b directly and indirectly since its inception, which is a record achievement. It was further informed that NAB had filed 3754 references in various learned accountability courts, out of which 2477 references were decided by learned accountability courts.

Currently, 1274 references having worth Rs. 1335.019b were under trial at various accountability courts. Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal said that NAB is considered a role model among Saarc countries. “Due to which NAB was selected as the first Chairman of Saarc anti-corruption forum and the NAB is the focal Department of Pakistan under UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC),” he said.