Chairman says for first time anti-graft watchdog filed 600 references in accountability courts in a year. PHOTO: FILE
Chairing a fortnightly meeting to review the performance of NAB's operation, prosecution and that of all regional bureaus at NAB Headquarters, Iqbal said, "NAB is the only organisation which has prescribed a maximum time limit of 10 months for expeditious disposal of mega corruption white-collar crime cases which is a challenging task but we are committed to beat the clock by putting in hard work and ensuring a corruption-free Pakistan as per law."
He said NAB had also introduced a Combined Investigation Team (CIT) system in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers.
"This system is not only lending quality to the work but is also ensuring that no single individual can influence the official proceedings of NAB. Due to this reason, NAB, for the first time, filed 600 corruption references in the respected accountability courts in a year," said Iqbal.
The NAB chairman directed all investigation officers to have a case diary of each case which "is very important and will help them in improving the quality of inquiry and investigation as per law".
He said NAB established libraries at NAB Headquarters and all regional bureaus to facilitate prosecutors and investigation officers in collection of relevant information for expeditious disposal of cases as per laid down rules/laws.
He said NAB appointed research officers for assistance in preparation of cases as per law. NAB also established an e-library at NAB Headquarters having more than 50,000 electronic books related to law journals, yearly law reports and monthly law reports etc.
NAB plans to have access with Higher Education Commission (HEC) Library which will be beneficial for NAB prosecutors in the future.
The chairman said that NAB devised and implemented an effective Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) at the NAB Headquarters and all regional bureaus in order to review their performance in qualitative and quantitative terms which proved very successful in enhancing the performance of all divisions of NAB, including regional bureaus.
Iqbal said, "NAB recognises the centrality of training as a tool of improvement and maintaining the quality of its manpower. NAB gives top most priority to the training of its investigation officers/prosecutors. A standardised syllabus for all investigation officers, refresher and capacity building courses on accounts matters, general financial rules, FR, SR, digital forensic question documents and finger print analysis has been formulated by NAB to ensure quality and uniformity."
He said due to continuous training programmes of investigation officers and prosecutors on modern lines, it is lending positive results.
The meeting was informed that operation and prosecution divisions of NAB were working closely to have legal assistance for NAB's operations division and all regional bureaus of NAB in conduct of complaint verifications, inquires, investigations as per law and laid down SOPs, pleading cases of NAB in accountability courts, high courts and the Supreme Court of Pakistan as per law.
It was informed that NAB had rationalised its workload and timelines had 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.
The meeting informed that on the directions of Iqbal, the prosecution division had been revamped by inducting experienced legal consultants/special prosecutors.
A mechanism of handling of witnesses had been established in all the regional bureaus of NAB and the result of this intervention was very encouraging.
He said, "Due to constant deliberations, monitoring and performance analysis of the prosecution division, the overall conviction ratio is approximately 70 per cent in the respected accountability courts which is one of the best conviction ratio."
(With additional input from APP)
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