Anti-corruption strategy: Bilateral efforts to boost confidence in CPEC projects

NAB chief says bilateral cooperation would streamline and structure cooperation

Bilateral anti-corruption efforts with China would help further boost confidence in CPEC-related projects in the country.

This was stated by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry in a statement released on Thursday.

He said that the bureau had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China to streamline and structure cooperation on anti-corruption.



In the context of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chaudhry said, this would further boost confidence in projects undertaken in Pakistan.

He noted that eradication of corruption is a top priority for NAB for which it had chalked out a comprehensive and proactive national anti-corruption strategy for awareness, prevention and enforcement.

Noting that eradicating corruption was a national duty, Chaudhry said that NAB officers had been instructed to redouble their efforts in this regard.

The NAB chief added that corruption was a major hurdle in the progress and prosperity of the country.

Recapping the bureau’s efforts over the past two and a half years, the NAB chief said they had recovered Rs45 billion in looted money and deposited in the national exchequer.

Highlighting NAB’s operational methodology, he explained that it comprises of complaint verification, inquiry and investigation. Moreover, NAB’s officials had been directed to strictly follow a code of conduct and standard-operating-procedures and merit according to law.



He pointed to Transparency International (TI) report of 2016 in which Pakistan’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) had improved by over nine points. Further, the CPI had noted a declining trend in corruption since 2013.

Moreover, he added that Pakistan was considered as a role model in South Asian countries in its anti-corruption efforts.

Apart from TI, independent national and international watchdogs such as PLIDAT and World Economic Forum had also noted Pakistan’s efforts to curb corruption.

He pointed out that NAB was the first chairman of SAARC’s anti-corruption forum.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2017.