Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Terming corruption a curse, a poison that must be dealt with an iron hand, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has said that the bureau is committed to eradicating the menace by adopting zero-tolerance policy across the board for a corruption-free Pakistan.

Chairing a meeting to review the bureau’s performance at its headquarters on Friday, he said that the NAB was essentially a complaint driven organisation that was established to eradicate corruption and retrieve the looted money from the corrupt.

He said that the NAB had chalked out a very comprehensive operational methodology for the processing of cases, complaint verification, inquiry and investigation.

He said that the NAB’s investigation officers strictly follow the code of conduct and the zero-tolerance policy on the basis of evidence as per law. “The year 2014 can be called the year of reinvigoration of the NAB,” he said. Qamar Zaman said that in order to minimise the possibility of any single NAB officer/official influencing the discharge of official business, the concept of a combined investigation team (CIT) was introduced, where two investigation officers and a legal consultant work as a team for a fair, transparent and unbiased inquiry/investigation.

He said that the NAB had recovered Rs 285 billion since its inception and deposited it in the national exchequer, which he called a “record achievement”. He said that the NAB had received 321,318 complaints that were all disposed of according to law.

“The NAB has authorised 7,124 inquiries, launched 3,616 investigations and filed 2,610 cases in the respective accountability courts to proceed against allegedly corrupt people since its inception. In a short span of 16 years, the NAB’s performance is a record achievement, which is better than any investigation agency of the world. Due to this reason, Pakistan’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has improved, as per the latest report of Transparency International (TI),” he said.

The bureau’s chief said that Pakistan was now being considered a role model among South Asian countries in its efforts against corruption. “This is a great achievement for Pakistan due to the NAB’s efforts.”

He said that the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in Pakistan, as per the TI report, had been declining since 2013 due to various steps taken by the NAB against the corrupt. “Besides the TI, independent national and international watchdogs like the PLIDAT and World Economic Forum have also appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to curb corruption.”

He said that the figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations had almost doubled in 2016 as compared to the same period of 2015. “The comparative figures for the latest two-and-half years are indicative of the hard work being put in by all ranks of the NAB staff in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where fight against corruption is being taken as a national duty. Increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trusted in the NAB.”

He said that timelines had been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases, putting a maximum limit of 10 months – from complaint verification to a reference in the accountability court.

He said that the youths were the future of Pakistan; therefore the NAB had laid special emphases on involving youths in order to aware them about the ill effects of corruption from an early age so that they might hate corruption in all its forms in the future.

The chairman further said that the NAB in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) had established more than 42,000 character building societies (CBS) in all the leading universities and colleges across the country to build an effective edifice against corruption.

He said that the NAB had also established a state-of-the-art forensic lab in Rawalpindi, which had facilities of digital forensics, questioned documents and fingerprint analysis. “The NAB intends to host the first SAARC Anti-Corruption Conference in Islamabad after the approval of the competent authority. The NAB has proposed the Whistle Blower Act, which has been approved by the prime minister.” He said that it was encouraging for the NAB that the Planning Commission of Pakistan had, for the first time, made anti-corruption part of the development agenda in Pakistan in the context of governance, and included a chapter devoted to issues of corruption in the 11th five-year plan in order to achieve the goals set for the eradication of corruption.

He said that the NAB had adopted an effective anti corruption strategy – enforcement, awareness and prevention – to eradicate corruption and to aware people about the ill effects of corruption.

He said that the NAB’s proactive awareness campaign on “Say No To Corruption” remained very successful during 2016. He said that the awareness campaign would continue in 2017, as corruption “is a major hurdle in the development and prosperity of the country”.