Daily Times

Corruption, a curse, is the main challenge being confronted by the country posing a potential hurdle in the way of progress and prosperity of the country.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was established in 1999 to eradicate corruption and recover looted money from corrupt elements and deposit in national exchequer. Honorable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman NAB soon after assuming the responsibilities of Chairman NAB, adopted an affective national anti-corruption strategy by adopting NAB’s Faith-Corruption free Pakistan” policy and apprehended more than 500 culprits elements, besides recovering Rs. 178 billion during the tenure of Honorable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman NAB.

Chairman NAB not only vowed to ensure accountability for all but also successfully implemented his policy across the board. He has persistently monitoring the weekly, fortnightly, monthly performance, midterm and annually of NAB Headquarters as well as all Regional Bureaus of NAB. The officers are being conveyed about their strengths and weakness regularly in order to have better performance which has started yielding excellent dividends. NAB had already fixed ten months’ time to complete the process of initiating complaint versification, inquiries and investigations to filing a reference. NAB has further activated prosecution and operation divisions of NAB by appointing new investigation officers and law officers and provided them training on modern lines in order to inquire and pursue all cases mega cases vigorously in respected courts including cases of white collar crimes.

An accused can apply for plea bargain as per clause 25-B of NAB ordinance at the stage of investigation. NAB on his receipt of plea bargain request in which the accused admits his/her guilt, examines the plea bargain application of the accused as per law. The individual liability of the accused is determined on the basis of his looted money and after determination of his/her total liability of the accused, NAB after careful review of operation and prosecution divisions, forward the request of plea bargain of the accused along with total liability to respected Accountability court, if the accused agrees to return the looted money from the date of money he has looted, he submits his first installment with his/her plea bargain after determination of his total liability. NAB forward plea Bargain request of the accused along with his total liability for final approval of the respective Accountability Court. The respected Accountability Court after appraisal of record, documents and liability of the accused in the case, accords final approval of plea bargain of the accused. After approval of plea bargain request of the accused from Accountability Court, The accused is bound to pay remaining amount in 3 installments. As per clause 25-b of NAO, Plea Bargain is deemed conviction as accused not only accepts his guilt but also agrees to pay his total liability which is deposited in the national exchequer.

After plea bargain of the accused, the Government servant is dismissed from service immediately after approval of plea bargain by Accountability Court. He becomes disqualified for Government service for his remaining life. After plea bargain, a politician becomes disqualified for 10 years. He could not hold public office or contest elections for ten years. In case of a business, after plea bargain, he could not obtain loan from a schedule bank for ten years. The whole amount recovered from a plea bargain is deposited in national exchequer and NAB officers do not receive any money of the recovered amount. Plea Bargain is prevalent in over thirty countries including USA, UAE and other countries of the world. In plea bargain accused only does not go to jail but he faced all other punishments under 25-b of NAO.

During the tenure of Honorable Mr. Justice Javed, Iqbal, Chairman NAB, NAB’s performance has been appreciated by reputed national and international organizations like Transparency International, Pakistan, World Economic Forum, PILDAT and Mishsal Pakistan. Chairman NAB and his team consider elimination of corruption as their national duty. The elimination of corruption is collective responsibility of the whole nation. NAB hopes that through collective efforts of all stakeholders, the dream of corruption free Pakistan should be materialised.