Daily Times

February 10, 2019: Corruption is curse which is also root cause of all ills being faced by Pakistan today. Corruption is the major impediment in road to progress and prosperity. NAB was established to eradicate corruption from the country, to recover looted from corrupt and deposit it in the national exchequer.

NAB is Pakistan’s apex Anti Corruption Organization having jurisdiction across the country including Gilgit Baltistan and FATA. Chairman NAB Justice Javed Iqbal after assumption of his responsibilities as Chairman NAB devised a proactive Anti-Corruption strategy to transform NAB into a vibrant Organization by adopting zero tolerance policy across the board against corruption and introduced self accountability system in NAB. Chairman NAB under Accountability for All” policy directed all NAB’s Regional Bureaus to Nab culprits and investigate without caring about their position so that they could be brought to justice on merit in the light of evidence as per law. NAB since its inception filed 2808 references against the corrupt and recovered record Rs 298 billion and deposited into the national exchequer. No other Anti Corruption Organization in Pakistan has such exemplary performance.

NAB chairman has devised for evaluation of the annual performance of all NAB regional Bureaus which resulted in yielding excellent dividends. The performance of NAB’s Regional Bureaus is being judged under the grading system on annual and Mid Term basis. NAB bureaus are not only being informed about their strengths but also being inform about their deficiencies so that they should overcome their deficiencies, otherwise their evaluation graded low and they received displeasure from the competent authority. This system has proved very successful and all Regional Bureaus of NAB work now more diligently and on merit in order to compete with other Regional Bureaus. This is very healthy competition between the Regional Bureaus of NAB and even the number one region at the end of the year received trophy from Honorable President of Pakistan at the eve of world Anti Corruption Day.

NAB under the dynamic Leadership of Honorable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal has further improved its effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation system. Under the system, a unique identification number is being fixed on each complaint on the very first day by every regional bureau and NAB headquarters. The applicants are being informed about their complaints accordingly. This system is called Citizen friendly NAB which is not only to inform the complainant about latest position of their complaint but NAB would ensure transparency in complaint redressal, due to this reason, confidence of people upon NAB is being enhanced. NAB received double applications in 2017 as compared to the same period of 2016. NAB for the last 13 months has been made a vibrant and credible institution. The reputable National and International organizations have time and again acknowledged the excellent performance and credibility of NAB. The comparative figures for the last one year from Oct 2017 to Dec 2018 are also indicative of NAB’s excellent performance under the leadership of Honorable Justice Mr. Javed Iqbal, Chairman NAB. NAB in the last 13 months under the dynamic leadership of Honorable Javed Iqbal Chairman NAB has received 54,344 complaints from October 11, 2017 to Dec 31, 2018. Out of which 2125 complaints verification, 1059 inquiries and 302 investigations were authorized. NAB has apprehended 561 corruption suspects and filed 590 corruption references in various accountability courts.NAB has also recovered record Rs 3919.011 million from corrupt elements and deposited in the national exchequer. The ratio of punishment was 70.08 percent during the year 2018 which is unmatched as comparing to such other anti-corruption institutions of Pakistan. Moreover, NAB has fixed ten months period completing inquiry investigations and filing the reference in the relevant court. The fixation of filing reference is yielding positive results. NAB has also established CIT system which had not only helped improving work standards but also makes sure that nobody could influence.

Chairman NAB has opened the doors of NAB for public and started listening complaints of people on last Thursday of each month. Separate complaint cells have also been established at all regional bureaus of NAB. NAB has inked MoU with HEC to enhance awareness against corruption in students of colleges and universities. NAB has also signed MOU with China to oversee CPEC projects being under process in Pakistan. NAB is the only organization in the world for which China has signed MOU to have cooperation to eradicate corruption through best practices. NAB gives top priority to resolve problems of business community. During the recent address of Chairman NAB to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced establishment of special cell for Business community which was established on the same day and a Director was made head of that separate complaint cell.

After some days, a delegation of Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). Chairman NAB said that business community always plays vital role in the development of country. NAB respects business community and their problems will be solved in accordance with law. On the request of business community, Chairman NAB appointed a focal person Mr. Asim Lodhi, Director NAB to serve as focal person to interact with NAB and business community. The Business lauded the efforts of chairman NAB for eradication of corruption from the country, adding that business community assured their complete confidence over NAB. Business community is satisfied with the performance of NAB, which is working as per law. They thanked the chairman for establishing Special Desk and appointing focal person. The delegation invited Chairman NAB to address FPCCI, headquarter, Karachi. The chairman has assured the delegation of FPCCI to address business community during his coming visit to Karachi. The Chairman NAB Honorable Justice Mr. Javed Iqbal has proved that he is man of action and his actions speaks louder than words which is ample evidence of NAB’s performance under dynamic leadership of Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman NAB.

Published in Daily Times, February 11^th 2019.