NAB recovers around Rs 539 billion from corrupt elements directly & indirectly in last more than four years
ISLAMABAD, Jan 25 (SABAH): National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has released its over four years excellent performance report under the dynamic leadership of Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, Chairman NAB.
Due to the outstanding performance, NAB is today the Chairman of NAB SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum, Pakistan’s focal body under the UN Convention against Corruption.
World Economic Forum, Global Peace Canada, PILDAT, Mashal Pakistan has appreciated NAB’s efforts whereas as per Gilani & Gallup survey, 59 percent of people have expressed confidence in NAB.
The National Accountability Bureau was established with the mandate to eradicate corruption and recover looted money from corrupt elements and deposit the recovered amount in national exchequer.
Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, after assuming his responsibilities as Chairman NAB devised a comprehensive and effective three-pronged anti-corruption strategy of ‘awareness, prevention and enforcement’ to weed out corruption which has been identified as the most effective anti-corruption strategy.
The Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau, while introducing many new reforms in the institution, expanded the scope of the National Accountability Bureau to all corners of the country.
Headquartered in Islamabad, NAB has 7 regional offices which are functioning in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Multan while one sub-office in working in Gilgit-Baltistan. Credible national and international organizations like World Economic Forum, Golbsl peace Canada and Mashal Pakistan have appreciated efforts of NAB’s and its initiatives to eradicate corruption.
According to the results of a survey conducted by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, 59 percent Pakistanis have expressed their satisfaction over the NAB performance.
Under the dynamic leadership of Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal – the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has become an active institute as it has recovered around Rs 539 billion from corrupt elements directly and indirectly in the last more than four years which is a significant achievement as comparing to previous years.
NAB since it’s inception has received a total of 501,729 complaints since its inception out of which 498,256 had been disposed off. NAB has authorised 16,307 complaint verifications as per law, out of which investigation of 15,475 complaints has been completed. NAB has initiated 10,365 inquiries as per law out of which 9,299 have been completed.
The NAB has authorised 4,707 investigations out of which 4,377 have been completed. NAB has filed as many as 3,776 references in various accountability courts. Right now some 1,237 corruption references of Rs 1,353 billion were being heard in various esteemed accountability courts of the country. The NAB has decided to file petitions in accordance with the law in the esteemed accountability courts for speedy hearing of pending cases where the law will make its own way.
According to NAB’s enforcement strategy, the NAB, headed by its Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, set a time limit of 10 months to complete the investigation. NAB has also introduced a new concept of Combine Investigation Team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, hence a system of CIT comprising of a director, additional director, investigation officer and a senior legal counsel has been put in place. This is not only lending quality to the work but also ensuring to improve the quality of inquiries and investigations. The positive results of all those initiatives has already started to come. NAB does not belong to any political party, group or individual but NAB belongs to the state of Pakistan only. According to NAB law, the policy of accountability for all is being strictly followed.
In last more than four years period, the NAB has summoned those big fish that no one could have imagined even serving call up notice to them in past. Due to effective prosecution on the basis of solid evidence of NAB, the esteemed accountability courts not only convicted 1405 accused during the last 4 years but also recovered billions of rupees from them. Taking logical conclusion of mega corruption white collar cases is the top priority of NAB. Out of 179 mega corruption cases, 66 cases have been brought to a logical conclusion by esteemed accountability courts, as per law while 94 corruption cases are pending in accountability courts.
Besides enjoying the status of Chairman of SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum, NAB is also the UN’s focal body under the UNCAC. NAB is the only institute in the world which has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China to oversee China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects being completed in Pakistan. National Accountability Bureau has recruited investigating officers and prosecutors on merit to enhance its workforce and increase its capacity, at the same time, the National Accountability Bureau has started various training programs to enhance the capacity of its investigating officers and prosecutors on modern lines. The national international investigators taught them about the use of latest technology in investigations of white collar crimes. The completion of effective training has not only helped enhancing the quality of investigations but also improving the standard of investigative officers and prosecutors.
Both the Operations Division and Prosecution Division, have become more active with the deployment of new investigating and law officers in the divisions.
In addition, NAB has set up a Pakistan Anti-Corruption Training Academy on modern lines, while NAB has set up a Forensic Science Laboratory in Islamabad with state-of-the-art facilities for digital forensics, documentation and fingerprint analysis.
On the instructions of chairman, NAB has devised a state of the art and effective Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES). Under which individual number is added to each complaint from the very first day on all the complaints while the complainant is also immediately informed about the receipt of his complaint. The quality and quantity of statistics is being analyzed through an effective monitoring and elevation system in addition to the details of inquiries, investigations, references in accountability courts, executive boards, regional boards.
Furthermore, NAB has also devised a comprehensive quantified grading system to review the annual performance of its regional offices and improve the performance of its officers. Under the grading system, the performance of all the regional bureaus of NAB is regularly reviewed which has helped in improving the overall performance of NAB.
The National Accountability Bureau receives the most complaints about bogus housing societies and co-operative housing societies. Thanks to the efforts of Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, billions of looted amount were recovered from the bogus societies and returned to the victims in a dignified manner. The victims thanked Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal. Similarly, the National Accountability Bureau received thousands of applications in the Madaraba/Musharaka scandal. The National Accountability Bureau not only arrested the accused in the Madaraba/Musharaka scandal in accordance with the law but also made serious efforts to recover the money looted from them for life and filed references against the accused in the accountability courts to recover the looted money from the accused and returned to the victims.
Young people are an asset of any country. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in collaboration with Higher Education has signed (MoU) to educate students of universities and colleges across the country on the effects of corruption. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed to foster awareness and for prevention of activities against corruption among the youth. NAB has established over 50,000 character building societies in colleges/universities across country.
Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has 40 years of experience in providing justice to the aggrieved citizens. He started his career as a Sessions Judge in Quetta and served as the Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
He is extremely honest person and strongly believes in performing his duties in accordance with the law. NAB strongly believes in preserving self-esteem of every human being. NAB believes in eradicating corruption by ensuring accountability to all while abiding by the law.
The significant achievements that NAB has made in its journey since its inception are the result of the tireless work and teamwork of NAB officers/staff. Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal believes in teamwork. Since his appointment, he has acted indiscriminately against corrupt elements in accordance with the law. He dose not believe in being lenient or abusive. Reliable national and international bodies have acknowledged the outstanding performance of NAB during the last 4 years under the leadership of Chairman NAB. We have to play a collective role in the fight against the scourge of corruption so that the dream of making Pakistan a corruption free country could be realized.