Re-invigorated: Anti-corruption drive to continue: NAB chief

Says anti-corruption strategy proving successful

The country’s top anti-graft czar has said that the drive against corruption has started yielding dividends and vowed to continue it till the menace is rooted out from society.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) proved very successful which will continue during 2016.

It is encouraging that fight against corruption has been made a part of governance and development agenda, he said.

“The Planning Commission has included a chapter on the issues related to corruption in the 11th five-year plan and we intend to work closely with it to achieve the goals set in the plan,” Chaudhry said.

He said that NAB has prosecuted corrupt elements and has recovered Rs276 billion since its inception and deposited in the national exchequer.

Various initiatives have been taken to further improve the performance of the bureau.

He said that a standard operating procedure (SOP) has already been devised to rationalise the workload; timelines have been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases putting a maximum limit of 10 months -- from complaint verification to inquiry to investigation and to filing to a reference in the accountability courts.

Chaudhry said that in order to be able to hold others accountable and to sit in judgment on their conduct, NAB shall have to put its own act together to serve as a role model.

The chairman reiterated his resolve to continue the policy of zero tolerance against corruption within the bureau.

Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against 83 NAB officers during the last two and half years, out of which 60 cases have been finalised with 22 major and 34 minor penalties and 11 are under process.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2016.