World Anti-Corruption Day: NAB fully geared to rid Pakistan of corruption

Bureau’s chairman says complaints have doubled due to new measures

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top anti-corruption watchdog has said that it has employed an enforcement-based approach towards eradicating corrupt practices in the country.

“The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is completely autonomous in its professional duties and is pursuing its given task without any interference,” NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said while speaking at an event to mark World Anti-Corruption Day at the Presidency.



Chaudhry went on to detail various measures adopted by NAB to combat corruption.

“We have moved with a new zeal and effort and introduced the concept of Combined Investigation Team (CIT) where at least two investigation officers as well as a representative of the prosecution are working as a team for transparent and unbiased investigation.”

The NAB chief explained that to speed up enforcement and to clear backlogs, the bureau has fixed timelines for completing each phase of investigation. An IT-based monitoring and evaluation system has been introduced which evaluates performance at every level.  “It is encouraging that the Planning Commission of Pakistan has included a chapter devoted to issues of corruption in the 11th five-year plan and we are working closely with the commission in this respect.”



He added that President Mamnoon Hussain has championed the fight against corruption. “The dream of a corruption-free society will remain elusive unless, we the citizens of Pakistan, reduce our corruption tolerance threshold, elect honest public representatives and above all, generate a strong political will to wipe out corruption.”

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid was also present at the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2015.