NAB fired 25 officials in four years, data shows

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) initiated 174 inquiries against its own officials and fired 25 of them during the four-year tenure of the current chairman of the anti-graft body, reveals its data.

It shows the NAB prosecuted 174 of its employees for misconduct under the Employees Term & Conditions of Services (TCS 2002). It took disciplinary action against its 11 officers and seven officials. When questioned, a source in the NAB said an employee who is a grade-17 officer or above is an officer while lower grades are called officials.

A NAB official told this correspondent the bureau believes in self-accountability and had fired 25 of its own employees during 2017-2020 during the chairmanship of Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.

The data reveals that 174 disciplinary cases were finalised and some are under process in its regional offices. The document available with The News shows categories, major penalties, minor penalties, exonerated, warned and under process, under which cases were initiated against NAB employees.

The Karachi NAB initiated most cases against its employees during 2017

to 2020. It gave 29 warnings to its officials, seven were exonerated and two charged with major penalties while nine were awarded minor penalties. Twenty-one cases are under process in Karachi. The NAB headquarters in the federal capital initiated 18 cases against its employees. Nine of them were charged with minor penalties while one was exonerated and one case is under process.

The Lahore NAB Lahore proceeded against 20 employees. Two were charged with major penalties and eight with minor penalties, while seven officials were exonerated, one was warned and two cases are still under process.

The Multan bureau proceeded against 19 employees. Seven cases are still under process while seven were warned, two were exonerated, nine charged with minor penalties and two with major penalties, according to the data.

The Balochistan NAB initiated 12 cases against its workers which included two major penalties, four minor penalties, one official was exonerated, two warnings issued and three cases are still under process.

The NAB Sukkur proceeded against seven employees. Four minor penalties were awarded while three officials were exonerated. The Rawalpindi branch initiated eight cases. Three NAB officials were charged with minor penalties while five were warned.

In KP, disciplinary action was taken against 24 NAB employees.

Four officials were exonerated while six were charged with major penalties, nine warned and five cases are pending.

At least 25 officials working in the NAB across Pakistan were exonerated by the bureau itself during 2017 to 2020. Whereas, 11 officials were charged with major penalties and 41 with minor penalties, 52 warnings were issued and 45 cases against officials are still under process.