IMF sets NAB chief terms

Govt commits to publishing asset declarations of top civil servants by Dec

ISLAMABAD:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has imposed a new condition to ensure integrity and transparency in the appointment of the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), making it binding to appoint the head by a commission that must have representation of opposition parties.

Government sources told The Express Tribune that Pakistan has assured the IMF it would ensure NAB's autonomy and transparency through a robust selection process for senior management and the publication of operating rules and statistics.

The deadline to complete the task is January next year, as changes to the appointment process would also require amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance, said the sources.

The lender imposed the condition as part of strengthening the anti-corruption legal and regulatory framework and improving the nation's poor governance. The appointment process of the NAB chairman has always remained controversial. The government recently made amendments to the NAB law to give an extension to the incumbent chairman.

Pakistan's president appoints the NAB chairman on the advice of the federal government, which is based on consultation between the leader of the opposition and the prime minister.

The sources said the IMF believes that NAB's institutional independence plays a key role in building public trust and institutional credibility. In this context, the IMF has asked Pakistan to ensure autonomy for the body and make the appointment process transparent.

The government has accepted the IMF's stance that amendments to the NAB Ordinance adopt a predetermined qualification criteria, which must include years of experience and integrity standards, said the sources. The government has also committed to establishing a merit-based, open and competitive selection process and appointing a multi-sectoral stakeholder commission with representation from the government, opposition, judiciary, civil service, academia and civil society. The commission would be responsible for conducting an open, rules-based, rigorous and transparent recruitment process.

The government would also publish NAB's annual statistics regarding the investigation, prosecution and conviction of corruption offences on NAB's website.

The government has assured the IMF it would publish the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) review report on the website of the Ministry of Law and Justice. Under the IMF condition, the government has already published the Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment report.

NAB has been given a lead role in designing an action plan to mitigate corruption in government departments that are prone to high risks of corruption. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted an anti-corruption and AML/CFT committee, and NAB has been tasked with developing an action plan to mitigate corruption vulnerabilities in the top 10 departments with the highest corruption risks.

The committee will develop and publish a methodology for assessing and prioritising agency-level corruption risks, and protocols for conducting risk assessments, reporting and reviewing results, and defining the plan to reduce corruption risks in identified agencies.

The methodology to identify corruption-prone entities must have assessment criteria, making use of relevant information held by agencies and ministries across the government, including NAB, the auditor general, the Competition Commission, the FBR and the FIA, according to the IMF condition.

The committee would consider the value of money at risk due to corruption vulnerabilities pertaining to the agency's functions and budget, typologies of corruption in the assessed agency, the existence of structural weaknesses that give rise to corruption vulnerabilities, and information on the frequency of corruption, including past and ongoing corruption cases, the sources added.The government has assured the IMF it would prepare progress reports every six months to track implementation and will publish them on the Ministry of Finance's website. It also plans to organise the first policy dialogue this month to discuss institutional and structural implementation issues, design of performance indicators, common challengesand cross-cutting issues, public monitoring, reporting, and capacity development.

During the last round of talks, the IMF asked the government to invite development partners, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to participate in the dialogue.

The government has also committed to enhancing the capacities of provincial anti-corruption agencies to conduct financial investigations related to corruption at the provincial level. The provincial agencies would be tasked with investigating money laundering related to corruption offences within their jurisdiction and requesting and receiving financial intelligence from the FMU as an investigating agency. The IMF has also taken other steps to tighten the anti-corruption framework. Under the IMF condition, the government has already committed to publishing asset declarations of high-level federal civil servants by the end of this year.

The government would revise civil servant conduct rules requiring centralised digital submission and collection of asset declarations, risk-based verification, and disclosure of declarations with limited restrictions on confidential personal information.

The establishment division will revise the declaration form to specify restrictions on confidential personal information by the end of May 2026 and, in coordination with the FBR, will develop a framework for risk-based verifications. The FBR will develop a digital platform for the submission of asset declarations to facilitate the implementation of the reform.