ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Javed Iqbal has said that the corruption breeds injustice, poverty, undermines social, economic norms of societies and sullied the countries around the world.
In a statement, he said that NAB being the focal agency of Pakistan under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) was determined to weed out this scourge of corruption and make Pakistan corruption free by adopting ‘accountability for all’ policy.
NAB being the apex anti-corruption agency and mandated to eliminate corruption, corrupt practices, was operating through a three pronged strategy of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement. In order to eradicate this evil from society, it has consistently engaged all stakeholders and was incessantly combating this menace with unflinching resolve through its multi-pronged strategy, which has started yielding remarkable results.
In addition, NAB has played a role of torch bearer for other anti-corruption organizations by putting a maximum limit of 10 months for expeditious disposal of – white-collar mega corruption cases. In order to discourage money laundering; it has established Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Cell. This shows the bureau’s commitment and compliance towards the resolution of the international community.
NAB was also the founding chairman of the SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum and is a role model for SAARC countries. It is also pointed out that due to its strong resolve against corruption, the bureau’s endeavors have been appreciated and endorsed by different reputed national and international organizations like PILDAT, Mishal Pakistan, Transparency International, World Economic Forum that testifies people’s confidence and trust upon NAB’s performance.
Similarly, having confidence in the impressive performance of NAB, China has also signed an MoU with NAB to oversee CPEC projects being undertaken in Pakistan. He said that NAB was mandated for awareness and prevention. Under awareness and prevention strategy, NAB has engaged different governmental, non-governmental organizations, media, civil society, and other segments of society to join hands with its drive to create awareness among the people, especially the youth and students.
In this regard, a MoU with HEC has also been signed by NAB to create awareness among students against corruption as youth is considered a cutting edge in this fight. Due to this effective three pronged anti-corruption strategy, NAB since its inception, NAB has recovered an amount of Rs 814 billion while in the current year, it recovered Rs 323 billion. Beside this, currently 1,273 references are under process in accountability courts.