DGs conference concludes: NAB to expand monitoring, evaluation system

It will be replicated at all regional bureaus; anti-corruption academy will be set up

ISLAMABAD: After a successful pilot in Rawalpindi, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to expand its experimental monitoring and evaluation system to all regional bureaus.

The decision was taken during a three-day moot of directors general of the accountability body in Islamabad which concluded on Wednesday.

During the conference, officials discussed results of the monitoring system which had been set up at the Rawalpindi office as a pilot project. The system maintains data at each stage of an investigation including complaint entry, verification, inquiry, investigation, prosecution and record preservation of regional board meetings and executive board meetings complete with case brief, decisions made and list of participants who attended the meeting with time and date. It also has the ability to analyse data in qualitative and quantitative form and has warnings and alarm systems against violators.

After reviewing the outcome of the project, it was decided to replicate it in all regional bureaus for effective monitoring and evaluation.

The accountability body also decided to establish a state-of-the-art anti-corruption training academy in the country. The proposed academy would be set up on the pattern of the National Anti-Corruption Academy of Malaysia.

It was also decided that NAB’s regional bureaus will be evaluated under the Partly Quantified Grading System (PQGS Operational Efficiency Index) in order to review and further improve the performance of officers.

Addressing the concluding session of the conference, NAB Chariman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said that the body had chalked out a very comprehensive operational methodology for prosecuting cases including complaint verification, inquiry and investigation.

He urged investigation officers to strictly follow the Code of Conduct maintaining a zero tolerance policy on the basis of evidence as per law.

Briefing about the body’s performance in recent years, Chaudhry said that accountability court conviction ratio had risen to 76 per cent while the body had managed to recover Rs278 billion since its inception.

Furthermore, he said NAB has received 321,318 complaints which were all disposed of according to law. The accountability body has authorised 7,124 inquiries, 3,616 investigations and filed 2,610 in the respective accountability courts.

He noted that an effective accountability mechanism is quintessential for economic growth, investment and stability of social order.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2016.