NAB has recovered looted amount of Rs466b: chairman

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal said that NAB has established Anti-Money Laundering Cell in NAB headquarters and Witness Handling Cells in all the regions to improve the standard and quality of investigations as per law.

“NAB intends to incorporate experienced legal counsel, prosecutors, deputy prosecutors and additional prosecutor general in its legal team to have vigorous prosecution in the Honorable Courts,” he said while chairing a meeting to review overall performance of NAB at NAB headquarters on Friday.

“The NAB is absolutely committed to root out corruption so that corrupt should be brought to justice and looted money should be recovered and deposit in national exchequer as per law”, he said, adding: “The Transparency International (TI) Pakistan and World Economic Forum have appreciated NAB’s overall performance in eradication of corruption and corrupt practices.” “The report of Transparency International Pakistan issued on July 30, 2020 in which Mr. Sohail Muzaffar Chairman Transparency International (TI) Pakistan has stated that NAB anti-corruption drive has resulted in an excellent impact much needed since its inception and it has so far made recovery of Rs 466 Billion which is a remarkable achievement,” he said. “Transparency International Pakistan has been working with NAB since 2000, on awareness and preventive efforts to eradicate corruption, and has held many workshops, trainings, and seminars, especially on NAB’s interaction with business community and bureaucrats, assisting in NACS, UNCAC, etc.” “To further improve the quality of inquiries and investigations on the basis of solid and documentary evidence, the NAB has started Combined Investigation Team (CIT) system to conduct inquiries and investigations comprising one Senior Investigation Officer, one junior Investigation Officer, Additional Director Investigation as case officer, legal counsel, financial expert, land revenue expert and forensic expert under the supervision of Director and DG concerned to benefit from collective wisdom.”

He said the NAB has established its own Pakistan Training and Research Academy in which specialized training is being imparted to investigation officers as well as prosecutor officers on modern lines to probe money-laundering and white collar crime cases.

Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal said the NAB is regularly reviewing its performance through computer-based devised state of art monitoring and evaluation systems, and also physically inspecting, through Chairman NAB’s Inspection and Monitoring Team (CIMT), the overall performance. “Special complaint cells have been established in NAB Headquarters and all bureaus listen to the complaints of the business community as NAB has great regard for businessmen who play a vital role in the development of the country,” he said. “NAB is the focal organization of Pakistan under United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) as Pakistan is signatory of UNCAC.” He said Pakistan is the only country in the world to which China has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for eradication of corruption. Pakistan and China are now jointly working for ensuring transparency in China-Pakistan Economic Coordination (CPEC) projects. He said that World Economic Forum Report, Transparency International, Pakistan, and Mishal Pakistan has lauded NAB’s role to aware people about ill effects of corruption for corruption-free Pakistan. “NAB is the Chairman of SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum for its excellent work and considered as a role model among SAARC countries.” He said a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed with the Higher Education Commission to aware students about ill effects of corruption at an early age as youths are the future of Pakistan. “In this regard, Character Building Societies (CBS) have been established in Universities/Colleges throughout the country. NAB’s faith is corruption free Pakistan and it has chalked out a foolproof anti-corruption strategy.”

He said that NAB’s major focus is logical conclusion of mega corruption cases. Since NAB’s inception, one of NAB’s major achievements has been the recovery of around Rs.466.069 billion which is a great achievement as per NAB’s annual report of 2019. He said that the overall complaints in 2019 were 53643 and 42760 were processed whereas complaints in 2018 were 48591 and 41414 were processed. He said that NAB has established its state of the art Forensic Science Laboratory in Rawalpindi. “In 2019, 15747 questioned documents and 300 thumb impressions were analyzed in 50 cases and forensic analysis was carried out on 74 digital devices.”