National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry on Monday said that Pakistan’s improvement in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of the Transparency International (TI) for 2015 from 126 to 117 was a great achievement due to NAB’s efforts.
The NAB, he said, was a specialised agency doing a specialised job, a special duty to the nation to eradicate corruption from the country.
Chairing a meeting for reviewing overall performance of NAB here, he said, “We have to redouble our efforts to come up to the expectations associated with the NAB but I must bring on record the hard work and commitment shown by all ranks of NAB officers/officials towards their national duty particularly in the last two years.”
The NAB chairman said the bureau had prosecuted the corrupt and recovered looted public money of Rs. 265.977 billion since its inception. The allocation to NAB for its working since creation was Rs. 10.111 billion, which was only 3.7% of recoveries made by NAB. In 2015, the NAB recovered Rs. 4.5 billion looted money.
It was only due to untiring efforts and systematic and gradual improvements that NAB had been brought back on the rails by the present management of NAB, he added.
He said the increase in applications to NAB was reflective of people’s confidence in its work. The litmus test of the efficiency and effectiveness of NAB’s efforts lied in the number of cases processed. It had received 3, 00,009 complaints since its inception and authorized 6,662 and 3,391 investigations. Some 2,451 corruption references were filed in accountability courts and the conviction rate was approximately 70 per cent.
He said the NAB had decided to involve and sensitize youth thorough its holistic and innovative proactive approach of Awareness and Prevention. For the purpose a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has signed. Over 10, 000 Character Building Societies (CBSs) had been established by NAB in universities and colleges to create awareness among the youth against corruption.
He said that NAB had organized lectures, workshops, seminars, essay writing competitions, declamation contests, poster / painting competitions in educational institutions and organized awareness campaign throughout the country.
He said the NAB had constituted prevention committees on CDA, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Agriculture and National Food security, National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Prevention Committee on FBR, Prevention Committee on PID and Prevention Committees constituted in Provinces relating to Health, Education, Revenue and Housing, Cooperatives etc.