Recovery of Rs290b a major achievement: NAB chief

Qamar Zaman Chaudhry says year 2014 can be called year of NAB’s rejuvenation

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has said NAB, since its inception, has recovered around Rs290 billion of ill-gotten money from the corrupt and deposited it back into the national exchequer, which, according to him, is major achievement.

“Eradication of corruption is top priority of NAB and it will be done with absolute professionalism, transparency and on merit with an iron hand,” Chaudhry said on Monday.

He was addressing the inaugural session of NAB’s 22nd Annual DGs Conference at its headquarters in Islamabad. The three-day conference will conclude on September 27.

During the three-day conference, the NAB high-ups would review their performances and set targets for the next year to improve bureau’s efficiency, said a statement issued after the meeting.

Chaudhry said the year 2014, when he took charge as chairman of the anti-graft watchdog – could be called year of NAB’s rejuvenation as NAB had moved with a new zeal since that year.

He counted initiatives he introduced during his tenure to revamp the bureau and its transformation into an organisation that today enjoys trust of general public and acclaimed internationally.



“NAB has improved infrastructure and rationalised workload; timelines have been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of case putting a maximum limit of 10 months – from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to investigation and finally to a reference in the accountability court.

He said in order to ensure uniformity and standardisation, the standard operating procedures for investigation officers (IOs) were reviewed and revised after a gap of 10 years.

“In order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, a system of CIT comprising director, additional director, IOs and a senior legal counsel has been put in place.”

He said during his tenure NAB established three new regional bureaus at Multan, Sukkur and the G-B in order to address the complaints of people living in far flung areas at their doorsteps about corruption and corrupt practices.

“NAB organised Saarc Seminar in Islamabad in 2015 in which Saarc member countries including India participated and appreciated the anti-corruption strategy adopted by NAB in curbing corruption.

“Today, NAB is the first chairman of Saarc countries Anti-Corruption Forum which is a great achievement for Pakistan [made possible] due to NAB’s efforts,” he said.

He said NAB recruited new IOs in 2015 and 2017 and upheld merit during this hiring.



“Some 94,165 applications were received in response to an advertisement and 80,377 candidates were shortlisted for 97 posts and 70 IOs joined training at the Police Training College Sihala on modern lines as NAB always gives top priority to training of its IOs and prosecutors,” he said.

He said NAB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China in 2016 for cooperation in the fields of anti-corruption.

He said due to our hard work, dedication and commitment with the cause of eradication of corruption, the Transparently International (TI) in its report of 2016, improved the CPI of Pakistan plus 9 points.

“The World Economic Forum according to Global Competitiveness Index rated Pakistan from 126 to 122 this year which is great achievement of Pakistan due to efforts and measures taken by the present management of NAB to eradicate corruption from the country,” he added.