NAB committed to nab all corrupt: Javed Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal said that NAB is committed to nab all mcorrupt elements, eradication of corruption, recovery of looted money of citizens, take on mega cases of money laundering, misuse of authority, cheating public at large and logical conclusion of these cases on priority basis as per law.

“The NAB has no affiliation with any political party, group or individual but with the state of Pakistan,” he said while chairing a high-level meeting to review the NAB overall performance. The meeting was attended by Deputy Chairman NAB, Prosecutor General Accountability, Director General, (Operations) and other senior officials at NAB Headquarters.

Javed Iqbal said the anti-corruption strategy of NAB has started yielding positive results. “Over 59 percent people reposed confidence on its policies according to Gilani and Gallop survey. NAB is the focal institution according to Anti-Corruption Convention of United Nations (UNCAC). As per anti-corruption institute of SAARC countries, NAB is a role model and chairing the SAARC Anti-corruption Forum.”

The Chairman NAB said that NAB has prescribed its 10-month timeframe for concluding the complaint verification, inquiries and investigations cases so that corrupt should be brought to justice as per law. “A new concept of Combined Investigation team has been introduced in NAB comprising director general, additional director/case officer, two investigation officers, legal consultant, financial expert and forensic expert to benefit from collective wisdom.”

He said the Executive and Regional boards have been constituted for comprehensive deliberations of all aspects of the cases with regard to ensuring solid documentary evidence, statements of accused and witnesses, etc., so that the cases should be filed and completed in all respects, and corrupt elements should be brought to justice as per law.

He said that NAB has also introduced self-accountability system including evaluation of performance of NAB Headquarters and all its regional bureaus in qualitative and quantitative terms for improving its performance. “Positive results of all these initiatives have started pouring in. NAB always gives importance to training of its investigation officers and prosecutors on modern lines. NAB has not only devised training and refresher courses for its officers for capacity buildings but ensured that it should be held under the supervision of experienced and professional experts.”

He said NAB officers consider eradication of corruption as their national duty. “The increase in numbers of complaints during the current management of NAB shows enhanced confidence over NAB by the people of Pakistan. NAB has established a state of the art forensic laboratory at Rawalpindi which has facilities of digital forensic, question documents and finger print analysis.

He said the laboratory provides assistance in conduct of inquiries and investigation with solid evidence on the basis of forensic analysis.

Due to this reason, he said the NAB has conviction ratio of 68.88 percent which is more as compare to other such anti-corruption institutions in Pakistan. “The reputed national and international institutions have appreciated the performance of NAB which gives encouragement to NAB officers and also bring honor for Pakistan.”

He directed that complaint verification, inquiries and investigations should be completed by all regional bureaus in accordance with law and further directed to ensure self respect of every person as NAB is a people-friendly institution.