Daily Times

Every year on 9th of December, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore holds ‘Annual Mega Event’ to mark International Anti-Corruption Day which is being celebrated worldwide at this day. This time the event was organized at Expo Centre, Lahore. Hurriet leader Mst Mishaal Malik was invited by Director General (DG), NAB Lahore to grace the event as Chief Guest, whereas, renowned analyst Dr. Hassan Askari Rizvi and distinguished motivational speaker Qasim Ali Shah participated as guest on stage. The event was also attended by hundreds of participants from different sections of society including government Officers, faculty of different Universities, Colleges, Schools and a large number of students.

While addressing with the participants, DG NAB Lahore, Mr. Shahzad Saleem stated that Kashmir has always been the aorta for us and this valuable status will remain the same forever whereas, NAB officers are part of that voice which has being raised from Day one to date for the liberation of Kashmir from unjustified occupation of Bharat.

Shahzad Saleem further maintained that under the dynamic leadership of Chairman NAB Justice Javed Iqbal, NAB has been direly struggling to wipe out the menace of corruption from our beloved country. He went on stating at the occasion that NAB’s anti-corruption drive keeps on continue throughout the year; it’s not like, as presumed, that NAB only organizes a ceremony at the end of every year to relinquish its role from anti-corruption drive. NAB Officers have been working day and night to stand culprits convicted by Courts and this has caused agitation to the corrupt elements. He further stated that NAB has been working for the prosperity and development of the Nation while on the other hand; ill elements are busy increasing their assets multifold. He advised the on-lookers that any innocent doesn’t need to be frightened by NAB because only corrupt, crook and dishonest are panicked of NAB. Moreover, it is also a fact that fear of any regulatory Institution produces an apparent effect over hearts and minds of cunning individuals and on the other hand it also casts an ‘internal effect’ over an individual at the same time. For this, it can easily be assumed that only corrupts are fearful of NAB not the guiltless are. Adding to that, Mr. Shahzad Saleem said that in lieu of making Accountability watchdog more strengthen, we have been hearing whispers to clip powers of NAB.

At the juncture of annual international anti-corruption Day, he brought forth the comparative performance of NAB Lahore since its inception in 1999 to 2016 (17 yrs) with that of last three years since 2017 to till now the tenure of his DG ship in Lahore Bureau, in which 500 percent increase has been noted in NAB Lahore’s overall performance and an increase of 700 percent in Housing Sector performance, only.

Since inception of NAB Lahore in 1999 till 2016, the Regional Bureau collectively recovered Rs111 Billion, whereas, under the leadership of Justice Javed Iqbal, NAB Lahore shows performance worth Rs116Bn during last three years which shows an average annual performance of Rs39 Billion. Talking about References in Accountability Courts, Lahore, the regional Bureau during past 17 years managed to file References involving an amount of Rs 76 Billion in Honorable Courts while since 2017 to date, NAB Lahore has filed References amounting to Rs55 Billion with an increase of 310% in this head.

Furthermore, since 1999 to 2016, Plea Bargain (PB) was materialized worth Rs14 Billion, whereas, since 2017 to till-date with an increase of 265 percent, NAB Lahore recovers Rs9 Billion as Plea Bargain.

Talking about the Indirect Recoveries, DG NAB Lahore explained that Rs22 Billion were recovered in last 17 years and now under the leadership of current Chairman NAB, Rs53 Billion have been recovered since 2017 as an Indirect Recovery with an increase of 122 percent. It was also elucidated by Shahzad Saleem that more than 54,000 affectess in Housing Sector Cases have been benefitted in three years only.

While shedding light over the functioning and working of NAB, DG NAB Lahore said that merely busting of corrupts is not the part of job but recovery of looted money from corrupt elements and submission of the same into national kitty remains the right job of the Bureau.

Awareness and Prevention (A&P) Wing of NAB aims to promote a sense of self-accountability among youth so they may own responsibility of bringing accountability into their educational institutions, homes and Society. For the reasons, more than 1823 Character Building Societies (CBS) have, so far, been formed among Students of 1100 Schools, 224 Colleges and 42 Universities of 21 Districts of Punjab.

Before the audience, DG Shahzad Saleem admired the Prosecution Wing of NAB by exclaiming 70% of conviction rate in Court Cases which has been the best ratio among all other anti-corruption bodies.

Chief Guest Mishal Malik stated that, a collective effort is needed in the way to wipe out corruption from country. She opined that our conscience differentiates between good and bad for us; while honesty has been the biggest medal for human beings. Other guest speakers also availed the opportunity of forum and spoke heartily over the ill-effects and impacts of corruption on society.