ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (R) Javed Iqbal has said that effective and proactive anti- corruption strategy of incumbent management had started yielding results.
In a statement issued here, he said the strategy had also been acknowledged by Transparency International (TI), Pakistan, World Economic Forum, PILDAT and Mishal Pakistan.
Similarly, the recent survey of Gilani and Gallop had indicated that 59 percent people of Pakistan had full faith upon NAB which was ample evidence of it’s across the board accountability, he pointed out.
NAB had geared up and rejuvenated to eradicate corruption within all its forms and manifestations, the chairman added.
The Bureau’s major focus is on corruption and corrupt practices including money laundering, cases of cheating the public at large, willful bank loan defaults, misuse of authority and embezzlement of state funds. Since NAB’s inception, one of the
Bureau’s major achievements has been the recovery of around Rs 466.069 billion which is a great achievement as per the annual report of 2019 of NAB.
He said “Starting from the year 2017 which can be called basically a year of reinvigoration of NAB, we have moved with new zeal and effort after through detailed introspection and overhaul of procedures and all pillars of the organization i.e. Operations, Prosecution, Human Resource Management, Training and Research and Awareness and Prevention have been reactivated.”
The chairman said that the overall complaints in 2019 were 53,643 and processed 42,760 whereas complaints in 2018 were 48,591 and processed 41,414. Increase in the number of complaints also reflected enhanced public trusted, he added.
He said the NAB had processed 1,308 complaint verification, 1,686 inquiries and 609 investigations and recovered
Rs 141.542 billion from corrupt elements in 2019.
The chairman said that the Bureau had introduced a new concept of Combine Investigation Team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, a system of CIT consisting of Director, Additional Director, Investigation Officer and a Senior Legal Counsel had been put in place.
The NAB has established its state of the art Forensic Science Laboratory in Rawalpindi. In 2019, 15,747 questioned documents and 300 thumb impressions were analyzed in 50 cases and forensic analysis was carried out on 74 digital devices (Laptops, Mobile phones, Hard Disks etc). NAB is the focal Organization of United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) which is pride for Pakistan due to its efforts.
He said Pakistan was committed to United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in eradicating corruption through its three pronged Anti Corruption Strategy of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement.
The chairman said that NAB had initiated a dialogue of the anti-corruption authorities of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries with a proposal to set up a SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum. NAB hosted the first meeting of its kind in Islamabad where the heads of SAARC anti-corruption authorities including India agreed for creation of SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum and NAB is the chairman of SAARC Anti Corruption Forum. This was a reorganization of NAB’s excellent work as the Bureau was considered as a role model among SAARC countries, he added.
The chairman said NAB was the only Organization in the world with whom China had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to oversee projects to be undertaken under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan.
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