We’ve perfected our procedures and our officers/officials are working with realization that eradication of corruption is their national duty
NAB is role model for entire SAARC countries
Inked MoU with China, plan to have one with Malaysia
ISLAMABAD Jan 15 (TNS): Chairman, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal, terming the corruption as curse, has said the Bureau is geared up to come up to expectations of nation to eradicate this menace from the country.
NAB has perfected its procedures and its officers/officials are working with realization that eradication of corruption is their national duty.
In a statement issued, he said NAB is role model for entire SAARC countries due to constant decrease of Pakistan’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from 175 to 116.
The Chairman said Pakistan and China have inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for eradication of corruption. Both the countries are jointly working for ensuring transparency in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
He said Pakistan also plans to have MoU with Malaysia after approval to establish state-of-the-art training academy on modern lines to train its investigation officers in order to inquire/investigate white collar and complicated/complex cases more professionally and on scientific basis.
He said NAB’s proactive Anti-Corruption Strategy has started yielding positive dividends as “We have not only opened our doors for public across the board but timelines have been fixed for processing of any complaint of corruption from complaint verification to filing of reference in respective Accountability Court in 10 months. The policy is being implemented very strictly to recover looted money from corrupt and deposit it in national exchequer.
The Chairman said NAB has recovered Rs. 288 billion and which is record achievement of any Anti-Corruption Organization working in Pakistan. NAB’s conviction ratio is about 76 per cent.
“We have also adopted a policy to arrest Proclaimed Offenders and Absconders to bring them to justice. Within three months, we have apprehended 15 Proclaimed Offenders,” he added.
He said NAB has ordered for filing early hearing of 1138 under trial references in respective Accountability Courts, so that approximately Rs. 900 billion could be recovered from corrupt persons and culprits could be punished as per law.
Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal said that the Bureau has ordered inquiries in Multan Metro Project, reported corruption in 56 public limited companies in Punjab, inquiry to fix responsibility in Pakistan Steel Mills destruction and putting names of all accused in Exit Control List (ECL), inquiry in alleged illegal allotment of Industrial and Commercial plots by Gwadar Industrial and Estate Development Authority, Complaint Verification against National Testing Service (NTS), illegal Housing Societies in Rawalpindi and Islamabad besides other cities and inquiry against alleged corruption in Pakistan Sports Board, Pakistan Cricket Control Board and Pakistan Hockey Federation.
All such decisions have been taken in a period of only three months which proved that NAB is seriously working to eradicate corruption.
The Chairman said he has also started evaluation of Bureau’s officers/officials to judge their annual and midterm performance. Under evaluation system, the performance of NAB Headquarters and all regional bureaus are in process which will be completed in March 2018.
On basis of annual evaluation, officers/officials of NAB Headquarter and all Regional Bureaus will be informed about their strengths and weaknesses. They are also being directed to overcome their shortcomings which have helped in improving their performance and check and balance system.
He said NAB has also introduced computer based effective monitoring and evaluation system. Under this system complaint number is being affixed at each complaint which helps maintaining the record and proper monitoring and evaluation of performance.
The Chairman said effective efforts for enhancing of awareness and prevention campaign in order to aware people about the ill effects of corruption are being taken throughout the country.
