Committed to the cause: ‘NAB’s anti-corruption drive yielding dividends’

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has said that its anti-corruption drive was yielding results with a recovery of Rs264.398 billion looted money since its inception.

He said corruption undermines development and good governance, however, the apex anti-corruption body was carrying out its task of eliminating corruption through a holistic approach of awareness, prevention and enforcement, said a press release issued on Friday.

He a comprehensive National Anti-Corruption has been chalked out and a zero-tolerance policy has been adopted to curb corruption and corrupt practices from the country.

Chaudhry said NAB has recovered Rs264.398 billion from corrupt persons since its inception and deposited it to the national exchequer.

In total, NAB received 282,931 complaints, authorised 6,250 inquiries, authorised 3,142 investigations and filed 2,330 references in respective accountability courts.

These figures are almost double when compared to the same period of the previous two years. The comparative figures are indicative of the hard work being put in by all ranks of NAB staff to fight corruption, it said.

The increase in complaints also reflects the enhanced public trust in NAB, he said, adding that the recent report of the Transparency International rated Pakistan in Corruption Perception Index from 175 to 126 which was a great achievement for the country.

Chaudhry said NAB has also devised a comprehensive Quantified Grading System to review and further improve the performance of officers.

NAB has also initiated an internal accountability drive and inefficient, unscrupulous and delinquent officers are being weeded out. The bureau has also designed an automated monitoring and evaluation system for effective monitoring of staff performance. “This will replace and substitute the existing paper-based, time-lagged reporting system and will add efficiency and quality to the official business,” the chairman said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2015.