National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has said the NAB is committed to coming up to the expectations of the nation for a corruption free Pakistan, said a press release issued on Sunday.
He said that NAB is essentially a complaint-driven organisation which was established to eradicate corruption and looted money from the corrupt. NAB had chalked out a very comprehensive operational methodology for the proceeding of cases complaint verification, inquiry and investigation, he added.
He said that to close the possibility of any single NAB official influencing the discharge of official business, the concept of a ‘Combined Investigation Team’ (CIT) was introduced, where two investigation officers and a legal consultant are working as a team for a fair, transparent and unbiased, inquiry.
He said that NAB has recovered Rs 277.909 billion since its inception. NAB has received 3, 21,318 complaints which were all disposed of according to law, he said, and added that NAB has authorised 7,124 inquiries, 3,616 investigations and filed 2,610 in the respective accountability courts to proceed against allegedly corrupt people since its inception.
He said that an effective accountability mechanism is quintessential for economic growth, investment and stability of social order. A special focus is, therefore, being given to awareness and prevention activities, besides enforcement to educate the people at large about ill effects of corruption.
He said that the figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations are almost double as compared to the same period of 2014 to 2015 and in the six months of 2016. The comparative figures for the latest two and half years are indicative of the hard work being put in by all ranks of NAB staff in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where the fight against corruption is being taken as a national duty, he added.
Zaman said an increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trust in the NAB. Timelines have been prescribed for an efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of case putting a maximum limit of 10 months- from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to investigation and finally to a reference in the accountability court, he added.
Youth is the future of Pakistan; therefore, NAB has laid a special emphasis on involving youth in order to make them aware of the ill effects of corruption from an early age so that they may hate corruption in all its forms in future, he added. The chairman further said that NAB in collaboration with HEC has established 22,000 Character Building Societies (CBS) in all the leading universities and colleges across the country to build an effective edifice against corruption. NAB is putting serious efforts to combat corruption with this realisation that it is our collective social responsibility, he concluded.
