NAB had 79% success ratio in the first quarter

Chairman lauds professionalism of prosecutor general

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecution division had an overall success ratio of 79 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

This was revealed during a meeting to review the performance of the prosecution division for the first quarter of the year from January to March 31. The meeting was chaired by NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry at the NAB Headquarters, a statement said on Friday.

During the briefing, NAB Prosecutor General Accountability (PGA) Waqas Qadeer Dar said that the prosecution division has been revamped by inducting experienced and well educated legal consultants and special prosecutors.

Dar said that on the directions of the chairman, a mechanism of handling of witnesses had been introduced and the result of the intervention was encouraging.

Giving a break-up of their performance, Dar said that the ratio of trails in accountability courts stood at 33.3 per cent during the quarter. Appeals in high courts and maintainability were 64.7 per cent.

Writ petitions in high courts stood at 82.9 per cent, while decisions upheld in Supreme Court were at 46.8 per cent and appeals in Supreme Court were 100 per cent.

The overall ratio success for the division during the quarter stood at 79 per cent.

Chaudhry appreciated the performance of the prosecution division. He chalked it up to the re-invigoration of the bureau starting in 2014.

He added that an effective accountability mechanism is qualitative and quantitative is always vital for further improvements. Moreover, he said that NAB was committed to performing its national duty for a corruption free Pakistan.

Furthermore, the NAB chief said that the overall performance of prosecution division at the bureau’s headquarters and all regional bureaus was very good and had shown considerable improvement.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2017.