ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry on Thursday claimed that corruption had been reduced in Pakistan due to efforts of the National Accountability Bureau. Addressing officers of the Lahore NAB after a two-day annual inspection, the Chairman said that the Transparency International (TI) report of 2016 showed that Pakistan’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has improved, adding that Pakistan was considered a role model in South Asian countries in its efforts against corruption. He stated that CPI in Pakistan was on the decline after 2013 due to steps taken by the NAB against corruption in the country. Besides the TI, independent national and international watchdogs like PILDAT and the World Economic Forum had also praised Pakistan’s efforts to curb corruption. According to a NAB spokesman, the Chairman said the country was moving speedily towards being a corruption-free country because the NAB was focusing on awareness and preventive measures, and the enforcement of laws so that corruption could be curbed. He stated, “Eradication of corruption is not our national duty but it is a collective responsibility of all segments of the country.” He emphasised the duty of NAB officers to double their efforts to eradicate corruption by adopting a “zero-tolerance policy” across the board. Since its inception, the NAB had recovered around Rs. 285 billion in black money from the corrupt – which the Chairman proclaimed is a remarkable achievement. He also informed members of the NAB’s first forensic science lab (FSL) established in Rawalpindi. The workload has been rationalised and timelines have been prescribed for the efficient, effective, and expeditious disposal of cases; putting a maximum limit of 10 months. This is a challenging target to meet, even in investigating white-collar crimes. The NAB has also introduced a new system of a Combined Investigation Team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers. The system is comprised of a director, additional director, investigation officer, and a lawyer. This will not only lend high quality to the work but also ensure that no single individual can influence the proceedings. Chaudhary also stated, “Youth are our future. NAB has emphasised the character building of youth. More than 42,000 character building societies have been set up in universities and colleges. We have set a target for 2017 – the number of character building societies should reach at least 50,000 in order to make students aware about the ill-effects of corruption.” The Chairman said Lahore NAB is an important regional bureau which has played a vital role in contributing towards the overall performance of NAB. He directed all officers of Lahore NAB to adopt and demonstrate absolute fairness and transparency in their national duties. He appreciated their work since it showed excellent performance during 2016 with 99.97 percent according to an annual inspection conducted by the chairman’s inspection and monitoring team.