Recovered money: Victims of housing society scams get cheques

NAB chief reiterates commitment to ‘accountability for all’


APP January 02, 2019
PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: Affectees of at least three housing societies rested easier on Tuesday after the money they had lost in the schemes were recovered and returned to them.

Cheques worth Rs740.79 million were distributed amongst the affectees of the Shaheen Foundation, Tele Town Housing Society and the Chargia Housing Society in Wah Cantonment by the NAB.

During the ceremony at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Headquarters in Islamabad, the body’s chairman Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal lauded the performance of the bureau’s Rawalpindi chapter for recovering money from looters and returning it to the affectees.

Reiterating his commitment to eradicating corruption, he pointed out that NAB’s officers were performing their duties with dedication and commitment.

Describing corruption as ‘the mother of all evils’ and a major hurdle in the development and prosperity of the country, he said that NAB was committed to apprehending corrupt elements under its 'accountability for all' policy.

Extolling their efforts, Justice Iqbal said that due to NAB's proactive anti-corruption strategy and excellent performance for eradicating corruption, Pakistan’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) had improved.

He added that their overall conviction ratio in trial courts stood at over 70 per cent while their performance, when compared to other anti-corruption organisations, was excellent during 2018.

The NAB chief said that since the inception of the body, they had recovered around Rs297 billion from the corrupt and deposited in the national exchequer. Moreover, he said that they HAD filed around 1,210 corruption references involving graft worth Rs900 billion.

NAB-Rawalpindi Director General Irfan Naeem Mangi said that they have set up a separate complaint cell which received around 7,841 complaints during 2018. Of these, 7,000 complaints were disposed of.

Giving a brief overview of their performance, he said that they had received more complaints last year than in the past five years. Moreover, they had verified various complaints, conducted inquiries, and investigations, filing 50 corruption references in the various accountability courts and arresting 50 suspects in the last year. Over the past 12 months, Mangi said, they had recovered Rs218 million from corrupt elements and dispersed it amongst various government departments and affectees, particularly of various housing societies and cooperative societies.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2019.

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