Of 179 mega corruption cases: 66 brought to logical conclusion, NAB chief informed

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau has presented a report to its Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, informing him that out of 179 mega corruption cases, 66 cases have been brought to a logical conclusion as per law while 93 corruption cases are pending in accountability courts.

The report was presented to the NAB chairman in a meeting which he chaired to review progress on mega corruption cases. Javed expressed satisfaction over the NAB performance in mega corruption cases.

The meeting was informed that Abdul Qadir Tawakal and others were fined Rs 613 million, Ishtiaq Hussain of Messrs Buraq Syndicate Rawalpindi and others awarded a fine of Rs 200 million, Pakistan Medical Cooperative Housing Society management and land suppliers fined Rs 70 million, Haris Afzal son of Sher Muhammad Afzal and others Rs 1 billion, Seth Nisar Ahmed and others Rs 179.069 million, Sheikh Mohammad Afzal, chief executive/director Harris Steel Industry Pvt Ltd and others, Rs 331 million, Raza Habib, chief executive, Janat Apparel Pvt Ltd Faisalabad, Rs 174 million, Sheikh Muhammad Afzal Rs 435 million, Galaxy City Rawalpindi management and others Rs 213 million, Ayaz Khan Niazi, former NICL chairman, and others Rs 900 million, Syed Mureed Kazim, former provincial minister for Revenue Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ahsanullah, former senior member of the Board of Revenue and others, Rs 200 million, while Saeed Akhtar, general manager of Pakistan Railways, and others were fined $3.78 million.

While in six cases, the NAB recovered a total of Rs 7.859 billion from the accused through voluntary returns and deposited the money in the national treasury. Among them, the management of the Al-Hamra Hills and Eden Builders deposited Rs 1.902 billion, M Amjad Aziz, chief executive officer, Divine Developers Pvt Ltd, and others returned Rs 313.308 million, Khushal Associates Nowshera and others returned Rs.60 million, Shahnawaz Marri, former provincial sports minister Balochistan, gave Rs 14 million through plea bargain. Riaz Ahmed, former project director, Police Department, Balochistan, voluntarily returned Rs 5.5 billion.

It was informed in the meeting that according to the law, the accused in four mega corruption cases made a plea bargain through which a total of Rs 1.256 billion were recovered by the NAB. Syed Masoom Shah, former special assistant to Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and others returned Rs 300 million, Messrs Capital Builders Pvt Ltd (New Islamabad Garden, Islamabad) and others returned Rs 440 million. Wind Mills Restaurant Lahore and others made a plea bargain of Rs 205 million.

It was informed in the meeting that out of 179 mega corruption cases, 10 inquiries are under investigation while references of 93 mega corruption cases are being heard in accountability courts.

Javed Iqbal said the NAB is pursuing a policy of accountability for all which has started showing excellent results. “The NAB is the UN's focal body under the UNCAC and is also the chairman of the SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum. The NAB efficiency has been recognized by reputable national and international institutions,” he said.

According to the Gillani & Gallup poll, he said 59 per cent people trust the NAB. He said the conviction rate of NAB accused is 66 per cent, which is the highest among other anti-corruption agencies. “A monitoring and evaluation system was devised to improve the performance of the NAB,” he said.