The writer is working as a public relations officer at NAB. He tweets @irfanchaudhri
Criticism by definition is an act of passing judgment about merits of something or someone. The Oxford Dictionary defines criticism as, ‘The expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of perceived faults or mistakes’. The criticism should be for the sake of encouragement rather than merely for the sake of criticism.
Unfortunately, in our time it has become common practice that we start criticising people and organisations without knowing the facts and merits about a person or an institution. It seems all and sundry have become addicted to just criticise others without knowing truth. Same is the case with the apex anti-corruption agency of the state i.e. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), media personnel and some so-called experts criticise the NAB without knowing how tough it is to investigate white collar crime. It is not as easy as it seems, it is very difficult to acquire evidence especially in the cases of money laundering and e-financial crimes.
A case in point is of the Modarba scam. The NAB has so far received around 32,000 complaints claiming an amount of more than Rs 32 billion which is a huge amount. It has recovered approximately Rs 2.25 billion rupees including cash and property, which is less as compared to the volume of the scam but still a considerable recovery.
Most of the time people come to NAB for filing complaints after exhausting all their personal means for recovery. They approached the bureau when they could not get any valuable assets of the accused persons and in certain cases when accused persons disappear by disposing off their all the assets. Thus it is unfair to criticise the chairman and officers of the bureau by suggesting that the pace of the case or cases is slow. To ascertain channel of cash, transferred abroad is very difficult and time consuming. NAB is vigorously pursuing all the cases especially the Modarba scam.
If someone is not guilty, how any anti-corruption or law enforcement agency can declare him (the accused) guilty or can take action against him for a crime which he/ she has not committed. Regrettably, when any case is reported in the media, common people expect from NAB that it should immediately arrest the person and hang him. Media personnel, being opinion-makers should talk fairly and report things without any bias.
Under its new Chairman, Mr Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, the bureau has been doing its job at best level as only in last six months it has recovered around three billion rupees and filed more than 40 references in the accountability courts. It also merits mention here that some of these references have been filed against very influential people of both major parties of the country i.e. PML-N and PPP. The people against whom references have been filed include former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, Shaukat Tareen, former Secretaries Water and Power, Shahid Rafi, Muhammad Ismail Qureshi, Ishfaq Mehmood, former Member OGRA Mir Kamal Murree, former member OGRA Mansoor Muzaffar, former Secretary Finance, Salman Siddique, former Chairman NEPRA, Khalid Saeed, Yousaf Ali, former MDs, PPIB, Khalid Irfan Rahman, Fayyaz Elahi, Yousaf Memon, former MDs Pepco, Tahir Basharat Cheema, Munawar Baseer Ahmad, CEOs Pepco, Muhammad Arif Saleem, Fazal Ahmad Khan and Chaudhary Muhammd Anwar, Malik Naveed ex-IGP Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and many others.
The new chairman in his first letter of address to all ranks said that, “Let me assure you all that, at the earliest possible, I will address all legitimate complaints of all members of my team ensuring, not only transparency, but also justice to all; whether they be employees of NAB or under investigation by us. Let me make it unequivocally clear to all that justice is a double edged sword. While it must recognise merit and reward the worthy; it must equally certainly punish the guilty or the undeserving. I will not hesitate to do either”.
So, criticism against any person or organisation should be fair and deserved rather than with bias or for some political gains.
Despite all difficulties, the bureau operated and survived and is working hard to get back looted money from the clutches of plunderers. NAB's services are not hidden from anyone — whether it is the Double Shah scam, Canal Motors' scam, al-Jannat Marketing, Bank of Punjab scam, Askari Town case, Jeddah Town case, RPPs case, Pakistan Railways case, and last but not the least, the recent Modarba scam. Any case where the national exchequer faced loss or the public at large became a victim, NAB has always brought back looted money from the hands of culprits and compensated the people of Pakistan. Therefore, the political parties and some media personnel accusing NAB for their personal gains are being unjust. However, given the political circumstances, NAB has to appear neutral and dedicate human resources to achieving its objectives.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2014.
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