NAB extracted Rs50b from corrupt in three years

Numbers of complaints, inquiries and investigations almost doubled during 2014-17 as compared with 2011 to 2014

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) during the tenure of the present management years has managed to successfully retrieve Rs50 billion from corrupt elements and deposit it in the national exchequer which is a record achievement.

Considering corruption to be the mother of all evils, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was established in 1999 as Pakistan’s apex anti-corruption organisation which operates under National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 which was extended to whole of Pakistan including Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan.

NAB has its headquarters in Islamabad and has eight regional offices located Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Sukkur, Gilgit Balistan, Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi.

NAB under the present leadership of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has chalked out a comprehensive and proactive and holistic National Anti-Corruption Strategy of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement in order to revamp NAB and to root out corruption from the country by making all the public and private institutions to serve the nation with best of its abilities on merit.

The figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations are almost double as compared to the same period of 2014 to 2017. The comparative figures for the latest two and half years are indicative of the hard work being put in by all ranks of NAB staff in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where fight against corruption is being taken as a national duty. Increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trusted in the NAB.

NAB’s operational methodology comprises complaint verification, inquiry and investigation. NAB’s officers and officials need to follow strict Code of Conduct and SOPs and merit according to law.

Starting from the year 2014 which can be called basically a year of reinvigoration of NAB, we have moved with new zeal and effort. During the tenure of present management of NAB, the overall conviction ratio in respective accountability courts is about 76 per cent which is excellent as compared any other anti-corruption agency.

NAB has established its first Forensic Science Lab (FSL) in NAB Rawalpindi which has facilities of Digital Forensics, Questioned Documents and Fingerprint Analysis. NAB has rationalised its workload and timelines have been prescribed for efficient, effective 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. NAB has also introduced a new System of Combine Investigation Team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, a system of CIT comprising of Director, Additional Director, Investigation Officer and a Senior Legal Counsel has been put in place. This is not only lending quality to the work but also ensuring that no single individual can influence the official proceedings of NAB.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2017.