Daily Times

Eradication of corruption is top priority of NAB. NAB committed to eradicate corruption with absolute professionalism, transparency and on merit with iron hands. Corruption is mother of all evils which undermines development and is one of the major hurdles in the way of prosperity and progress of the country. Considering these facts, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was established as Pakistan’sapex Anti-corruption organization which is assigned with the responsibility of elimination of corruption and Corrupt Practices and recovers looted money from corrupt and deposits it in national exchequer.

NAB under the dynamic leadership of Honorable Justice Mr. Javed Iqbal has been rejuvenated and geared through its proactive anti-corruption strategy by adopting “Accountability for All” policy. Today, NAB has become a vibrant and reports and surveys of different reputable national and international organisations like PILDAT, Mishal Pakistan, Gallop and Gillani Survey, Transparency International and World Economic Forum have not only appreciated performance of NAB but also indicated that 59 percent Pakistanis have trust upon NAB due to its across the board actions. NAB strongly believes in self accountability, transparency and merit as per law and has opened its doors for citizens related to their corruption related complaints. Chairman NAB during public hearings on every last Thursday of month not only listen public complaints himself but has disposed off 2,500 complainants through personal hearings as per law.

NAB received 44,315 complaints in 2018, almost double from the previous year, and after due process scrutinised complaints in its complaints scrutiny committees as per law. On the basis of prima ficia evidence, complaints were converted into complaint verifications which were again scrutinised. After complaint verifications, complaints were converted into inquiries. About 590 corruption references were filed during in respected Accountability courts during the last one year which is an excellent achievement as compared to last five years of NAB. On the basis of across the board accountability under its Enforcement policy, NAB has not only arrested 569 accused persons during one year but also recovered Rs. 3,900 million from corrupt elements and deposited all amount in national exchequer. Not a single rupee has been taken by any NAB employee as NAB officers/officials considered it their national duty. The recovery made by NAB during the last one year was then returned to hundreds of effectees and some government departments. NAB has convened 48 Executive Board meetings during the last one year in which various complaint verifications, inquiries, investigations and references were authorised and approved. He said that the present management of NAB has devised a comprehensive Quantified Grading System in 2014 in order to further improve the performance of NAB Headquarter and all Regional Bureaus. Under Quantified Grading System, NAB Headquarter and Regional Bureau’s are being evaluated for the last three years on Annual and Midterm basis at a given criteria which has proved very successful and the performance of NAB’s Regional Bureaus is being increased day by day due to regular monitoring and inspection. NAB had organised SAARC Seminar in Islamabad in which SAARC member countries including India participated and appreciated the Anti-Corruption Strategy adopted by NAB in curbing corruption as Pakistan is role model for SAARC countries due to its proactive and effective Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement Anti-Corruption Strategy. Today, NAB is the first Chairman of SAARC countries Anti-Corruption Forum which is great achievement for Pakistan due to NAB efforts.

NAB has devised a state of the art Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) which was introduced at NAB Headquarter and NAB’s regional Bureaus in order to measure the effectiveness of performance which help in enhancing the operational, monitoring and evaluation capabilities of NAB at NAB Headquarter. The main purpose of effective Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) is to cater the needs of all concerned having salient features of maintenance of data at each stage including complaint entry, complaint verification, inquiry, investigation, prosecution stage and record proceedings of Regional Board Meetings and Executive Board Meetings including case brief, decisions made. MES has the ability to analyze data in qualitative and quantitative terms having warnings and alarms system for violators. Monitoring & Evaluation System (MES) is a web-based application, user friendly and interactive online system developed to enhance the operational, monitoring and evaluation capabilities of NAB.

Today, more than 1,210 corruption references of NAB are under trial in various respected Accountability Courts of the country and approximately total amount is Rs. 900 billion. Besides being apex anti-corruption organization, today’s NAB is role model institution among SAARC countries due to its effective anti corruption strategy of Enforcement, Awareness and prevention. NAB on bilateral cooperation, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China to streamline and structure and cooperation in the fields of anti-corruption. In the context of CPEC this cooperation will further boost confidence in projects undertaken in Pakistan.

Published in Daily Times, February 22^nd 2019.