Law minister calls for enhancing NAB expertise

Naseem says there is a need to make investigation process more effective

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Law Barrister Dr Muhammad Farogh Naseem has called for enhancing the expertise of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in order to deal with financial crimes, saying there is a need to make the investigation process more effective.

“Further interactive sessions in this regard will help gather valuable suggestions to strengthen the preexisting legal framework to fight the menace of corruption,” said the law minister while chairing the third meeting of the cabinet sub-committee to review the existing legal framework pertaining to corruption on Thursday.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain also spoke on the occasion.

Previously, the federal law minister and the PM’s adviser were tasked by the federal cabinet to comprehensively review the existing legal framework pertaining to corruption, graft and misuse of public office and present draft recommendations for the consideration of the cabinet.

Officials from the Ministry of Interior, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Ministry of Finance, State Bank of Pakistan, Police Service of Pakistan and Provincial Corruption Departments and ICT Administration participated in the meeting.

The participants of the meeting agreed that there was a need to have a strong and consolidated system in place for times to come. There was also a consensus among the participants that accountability of the officers and the officials be carried out to curb corruption and not in cases where the public servants made decisions in good faith and in public interest, to the best of their knowledge.

Naseem thanked the participants for their valuable time and sought further suggestions to strengthen legal framework to tackle corruption.

There was also a consensus that multiplicity of services such as FIA, NAB, and provincial anti-corruption departments investigating and taking cognisance of the same case be avoided.