NAB chief grades Lahore bureau’s performance as ‘outstanding’

LAHORE:

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman visited the offices of the anti-corruption watchdog’s Lahore chapter on Friday for annual inspection, an official statement said.

The NAB chief received a detailed briefing by the Chairman’s Inspection and Monitoring Team (CI&MT) which had been tasked with review and evaluating the performance of the bureau’s Lahore chapter in 2014 on the basis of a newly introduced quantified grading system. Under the new grading system, the performance of NAB’s regional bureaus will be evaluated under uniform criteria.

During the briefing, the NAB chief was informed that the Lahore bureau disposed of 2,022 complaints in 2014. The number of complaints received last year was higher than the average number of complaints received by the chapter on a yearly basis between 2009 and 2013, which was 1,015, CI&MT officials said.

NAB Lahore disposed of 672 complaint verifications (CVs) in 2014, the highest in the chapter’s history. The regional bureau completed 278 of the 349 inquiries authorised in 2014 and finished 59 of the 91 investigations authorised that year. The accountability courts decided 51 out of the 88 references filed in 2014. The bureau’s Lahore chapter also recovered around Rs1.46 billion in 2014 and arrested 84 people accused of corruption.

Following the briefing, the NAB chairman graded Lahore bureau’s performance as ‘outstanding’ with an 83% efficiency index. He appreciated the chapter’s efforts and directed all officials to continue their work diligently. He also appreciated the efforts of CI&MT officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.