Effective action: NAB’s anti-corruption strategy acknowledged globally

Bureau’s chief says investigations take place step-wise

The anti-corruption strategy of the country’s apex anti-corruption watchdog has been acknowledged by national and international organisations.

This was stated by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry in a statement issued by the bureau on Saturday. He reiterated that NAB will come up to expectations of the nation of eradicating corruption by adopting a zero-tolerance policy across the board. In this regard, he said that NAB has an overall conviction ratio of 76 per cent.

Chaudhry highlighted that NAB operates under the National Accountability Ordinance-(NAO) and has recovered over Rs287 billion since its inception. Moreover, he said that over the past three years, the bureau had been revamped with an effective and comprehensive National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS).

This strategy, he said, was acknowledged by national and international organisations such as Transparency International, PILDAT and the World Economic Forum.

He added that NAB starts functioning when it receives a written complaint about alleged corruption. The complaint is verified and the applicability of the provisions of law. During the process, the complainant is called for confirming the status and evidence available to him. Once it is determined that the alleged offence falls under NAO and available material justifies further process, it is processed for subsequent action.

In the second step, an inquiry is authorised to confirm the offence and collect evidence to identify the suspects involved. Statements of witnesses and suspects are recorded.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2017.