National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore organizes annual international anti-corruption day ceremony at NAB Lahore office. Vice Chancellor (VC), University of Poonch Rawlakot, Dr. Zikriya Zakir graced the ceremony as chief guest, however, Director General (DG) NAB Lahore Mr. Amjad Majeed Aulakh shared the stage as guest of honor. The ceremony was also attended by Investigation officers, prosecution teams and other staff of regional Bureau. Addressing the participants, Dr. Zikriya Zakir maintained that a robust accountability system remains the back bone of every society to flourish. He expressed his pleasure for addressing the front-row fighters against corruption. Talking about the elements contributing to spread of corruption in society, he argued that poverty can’t be declared as a sole conducive factor of corruption, however, there always remained a slight connection between poverty and corruption yet, other negative social contributors also encourage spread of corruption in a Society. He said, every Society consists of both fair and unfair people, conversely, the prevailing negativity attracts residents towards dishonest and bungling behaviors. He further stated that history has many instances when strict penalties were served to wrong-doers but it couldn’t successfully root-out corruption from Society. He reasoned that for the purpose to culminate corruption from community, moral behaviors are required to be preached and addressed like awareness and prevention activities of NAB are been underway. He also stressed that a corrupt society is a bi-product of continued criminal conduct that justifies acceptance of evil practices among individuals and ignores conscience’s wake-up call. He said that unfortunately, Pakistan lacks research into identifying the reasoning of spreading corruption which is the duty of our educational system. Bridging the gap between NAB and educational institutions is the need of the hour, he said. Talking to the participants, DG NAB Lahore said that 9th December is being commemorated globally as anti-corruption day, however, NAB Lahore organizes ceremony to mark this auspicious day where distinguished personalities are being called to show unity against corruption. Mr. Amjad Majeed Aulakh highlighted the performance of NAB Lahore during 2023 by informing that NAB-L held Plea Bargain (PB) of Rs4.150 Billion under the approval of hon’ble Accountability Courts. Moreover, an amount of Rs4.150 was directly recovered in corruption scandals. NAB Lahore indirectly recovered an amount of Rs2.37 Billion during 2023. Furthermore, the regional Bureau disbursed an amount of Rs8.40 Billion among affectees of different scams or submitted into national kitty. DG NAB Lahore also upheld that the Regional Bureau of Lahore has adopted a comprehensive strategy to secure public interests and also successfully redressed public complaints particularly relating housing sector. He said that the Bureau is introducing productive reforms in housing sector affairs to smooth loss-free functioning. Mr. Amjad Majeed Aulakh said that Chairman NAB’s open door policy is yielding positive results. Chief guest Dr. Zikriya Zakir and DG NAB Lahore also handed over merit certificates to Officers of NAB Lahore for their best performance during 2023. At the end, an awareness walk was organized to symbolize the unity against corruption and corrupt practices.