The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in its annual report 2012 said that it recovered Rs 25 billion through Voluntary Return (VR) and Plea Bargain (PB), and that despite budget and personnel constraints, mega corruption cases were being prosecuted as best as possible.
NAB worked with the bureaucracy for restructuring and strengthening regulatory mechanisms, and for removing rule violations to prevent corruption in planned procurements and projects. Numerous bureaucratic committees were formed in major areas of governance to improve performance. Rs 1.5 trillion worth of projects and procurements were processed to save over Rs. 200 billion, as they involved planning and pre-tendering irregularities.
The Bureau processed 7889 complaints, completed 392 inquiries and filed 95 references in the accountability courts. The influx of complaints increased during the year as the organization received 7,565 complaints reaching a total of 9353 complaints, including a backlog of 1788.
The report further revealed that the bureau authorized 232 fresh inquiries in 2012, raising pendency to 978 including the backlog of 746 inquiries.
“A total of 392 inquiries were finalized (including closures and conversion into formal investigation), whereas 586 inquiries remained pending,” said the report, adding that the bureau authorized 86 new investigations.
Out of total investigation cases, 147 have been finalized while 232 were ongoing, said the annual report.
During 2012, the NAB also recommended placing 192 accused individuals on the Exit Control List (ECL) through the Interior Ministry. Further, the bureau filed 95 references in the Accountability Courts, making a total of 719 cases, including 624 cases already pending in the trial courts.
NAB Chairman Admiral Retired Fasih Bokhari said in his comments that for 65 years and through 59 different legislations ‘enforcement’ as the primary anti-corruption tool had failed. Pakistan’s absolute corruption index remained unchanged at 2.5/10 since the start of Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. Pakistan’s corruption was therefore, not party, event, or form of government specific. The constant corruption index was a clear indication of major systemic flaws in the constitutional, legislative, regulatory and governmental structure.
The report stated that a focus on the politicians by NAB was unrealistic in the current politicized environment of Pakistan and a focus on the bureaucracy was the best starting point as they are the state’s regulators and need to be made independent of political and financial pressures. The state’s structures needed to be reviewed to remove discretionary and service anomalies.
