NAB meeting reviews overall performance

ISLAMABAD: As many as 1,277 corruption references of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) having worth of over Rs1,335.019 billion are under trail at various learned accountability courts.

It was informed in the meeting chaired by NAB Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal to review overall performance of NAB since its inception at NAB Headquarters on Tuesday. Deputy NAB Chairman Hussain Asghar, Prosecutor General Accountability Syed Asghar Haider, DG Operations NAB Zahir Shah and other senior officers of NAB attended the meeting.

DG Operations NAB told the meeting that NAB had filed 3,754 references in various learned accountability courts, out of which 2,477 references were decided. Currently, 1,277 references having worth of over Rs1,335 billion are under trail at various learned accountability courts.

It was informed by DG Operations that NAB had received 496,460 complaints since its inception, out of which 487,124 complaints were disposed of. NAB has authorised 16,093 Complaint Verification (CVs), while 15,378 Complaint Verification were completed.

It was informed to the meeting that NAB has authorised 10,241 inquiries, out of which 9,275 inquiries have been completed. The NAB has authorised 4,654 investigations, out of which 4,358 investigations have been completed by NAB since its inception. It was informed that NAB has recovered Rs816.793 billion directly and indirectly since its inception.

NAB Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal said that NAB is absolutely committed to nab big fish and logical conclusion of mega corruption cases by adopting accountability for all policy. “The NAB has chalked out and an effective anti-corruption strategy comprising Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement in order to eradicate corruption through zero tolerance policy,” he said.

He said that NAB is considered role model among SAARC countries. “Due this reason, NAB was selected first Chairman of SAARC anti-Corruption Forum,” he told the committee. He said the NAB is focal Department of Pakistan under United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). He said that NAB has signed an MOU with China to oversee CPEC projects being conducted in Pakistan.

He said that NAB has introduced a new concept of Combine Investigation Team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers in order to further improve the standard and quality of inquiries and investigations on the basis of solid evidence as well as statements of witnesses and documentary evidence besides establishing state of the art Forensic Science LAB which has facilities of Digital Forensics, Questioned Documents and Fingerprint analysis. “These initiatives of NAB are lending quality,” he said.

He said that youth is our future and the NAB has signed an MOU with Higher Education Commission in order to aware youth about the ill effects of corruption in universities and colleges at an early age. Under this initiative, he said the NAB has successfully established more than 50 thousands Character Building Societies in various universities and colleges besides constituting prevention committees in consultations in with respective provincial and federal government departments in order to assist them to identify and plug loopholes in order to check corruption.

He said that as per Gillani and Gallup survey, 59 percent people have shown trust upon NAB. Moreover, he said reputed national and international organisations like Transparency International (TI) Pakistan, World Economic Forum, Global Peace Canada, PILDAT and Mishal Pakistan have appreciated NAB’s efforts in eradication of corruption. He said that NAB has devised a comprehensive Quantified Grading System in order to further improve the performance of NAB Headquarter and all regional bureaus.

Under Quantified Grading System, he said the NAB Headquarters and regional bureaus are being evaluated on annual and midterm basis at a given criteria which has proved very successful in increasing the repute and image of NAB manifold due to regular monitoring, inspection and implementation of decisions taken by the present management of NAB.