All stakeholders show willingness to contribute. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China to enhance cooperation and oversee transparency in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in Pakistan.
NAB chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry on Tuesday said corruption was a poison which not only caused delays in the early completion of development projects but also caused huge losses to the national exchequer.
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He said NAB had signed a MOU with China to enhance cooperation in eradication of corruption and oversee transparency.
He said the bureau had perfected its procedures and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to rationalise the workload.
Moreover, timelines had been set for efficient and expeditious disposal of cases putting a maximum limit of 10 months from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to-investigation and finally to a reference in the accountability court, he added.
In order to ensure uniformity and standardisation, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in vogue were revised after a gap of 10 years to make these responsive to the needs of changed economic, social and technological realities along with goals and targets for smooth conduct of operational activities in accordance with law and to bring further improvements in the performance of the regional bureaus, he added.
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Chaudhry said NAB had devised Partly Quantified Grading System (PQGS) to review and evaluate the performance of all its regional bureaus on annual basis. He said that NAB had also devised Combined Investigation Team (CIT), which had improved the quality of investigations as well as the professional capacity of investigation officers (IOs).
The Internal Accountability Mechanism recently devised would ensure effective monitoring and evaluation of work force in NAB, he added.
The prime minister and the federal cabinet have approved Whistleblower Protection Bill which will now be sent to the National Assembly for further necessary action, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2017.
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