Panel to deal with cases pending for over three years.
The new chief graft buster has formed a special committee and assigned it the task of expediting all cases pending with regional offices of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Headed by the bureau’s deputy chairman, the committee will comprise the additional prosecutor general (accountability), director general (operations) and two other directors general.
The committee is expected to swing into action immediately after Eidul Azha holidays to ensure swift disposal of all cases that have been pending for more than three years.
A NAB official told The Express Tribune that the chairman has directed the regional DGs to expedite disposal of the cases that have been pending for less than three years.
NAB Chairman Chaudhry Qamar Zaman told a meeting on Monday that while law enforcement was one aspect that has regularly been associated with the bureau, strategies using awareness and prevention should also be given due importance.
He acknowledged that while law enforcement was a way of dealing with past crimes, prevention tackles imminent cases of corruption, whereas awareness eradicates the prospect of future crimes.
During the meeting the chairman was told that under previous regimes, the NAB Awareness and Prevention Division had investigated and intervened in 509 projects which saved the national exchequer possible losses of more than Rs300 billion.
The chairman reassured all NAB employees that their grievances would be addressed on merit. He said the newly recruited workforce should be groomed as assets of the bureau and they must be given special attention in specialised trainings during their time with regional offices of NAB. He added that the newly recruited officers must be attached with the regional offices on merit without gender discrimination.
He said carrier advancement was an integral part of any officer’s life. However, officers need to be groomed and imparted training before being considered for promotion.
Taking note of a media report about the absence of the NAB prosecutor from the court proceedings Monday morning, Chairman Chaudhry took the necessary disciplinary action, according to the NAB spokesman.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2013.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Before starting any investigations, first order should be to clean up the house. Fire every political appointee, and/or the ones who haven't been performing.