NAB is just one arm of the accountability machinery
“I cannot stress enough that NAB is an independent, autonomous institution. It has no affiliations whatsoever with any people or parties. It is under no, I repeat no, political pressure”
NAB’s never been not controversial. But that’s to be expected of an accountability bureau in Pakistan. It didn’t take long for it to become “politicised” after its inception all those years ago, and the charge has never left it.
Now, in the wake of the Raisani plea bargain, the pendulum of public opinion has swing strongly to the controversial side again, even though the present chairman, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, claims a no-nonsense approach that has brought value addition to the Burearu, and has the numbers to prove it.
But the Raisani affair left some bad after taste. So much so that the Supreme Court had to step in and take strong notice; all but accusing NAB of actually facilitating corruption. The understanding, of course, was that voluntary returns and plea bargains, when carried out like the Raisani affair, reek strongly of overwhelming political influence, and give rise to an environment where the worst of the corrupt can easily pay to ‘cleanse’ themselves.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that NAB has done anything wrong legally. As anybody who reads the papers and watches the news knows by now, Section-25 of the NAB ordinance of 1999 allows both voluntary returns and plea bargains. And, as far as the Bureau and its work is concerned, wrapping up the Raisani case with the plea bargain was a job well done. Period. The media outcry, the spin, politicisation, etc, is others’ business and they can mind it.
The deadlock has now led to the formation of the Parliamentary Committee on National Accountability Law, which will take a good three months to propose necessary changes.
Meanwhile, to understand NAB’s position, and what measures it has recently incorporated to combat corruption, DNA talked exclusively to NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry. He is very busy these days, and very difficult to get hold of, which is why DNA is all the more grateful for his time.
Question: What are your expectations from the newly formed Parliamentary Committee on National Accountability Law? What “necessary changes” do you expect it to propose?
Qamar Zaman Chaudhry: It is the parliament’s business to legislate. And it is NAB’s business to implement whatever is mandated by the legislation. At this point in time, it is not NAB’s concern what changes the Parliamentary Committee might suggest. Of course, we coordinate very closely with whoever is concerned with NAB. And we will welcome any positive changes proposed by the Committee.
For the moment, we will continue with our mission of eradicating corruption from Pakistan. So far, we have been quite successful, and our efforts have been appreciated at home and abroad. During the last 16 years, NAB has received about 3,26,694 complaints from individuals and private/public organisations. During this period it authorised 10,992 complaint verifications, 7,303 inquiries, 3,648 investigations, filed 2,667 corruption references in respective accountability courts and overall conviction ratio is about 76 percent, which is quite impressive.
The Bureau’s prime focus remains on cases of cheating public at large by fraudulent financial companies, bank frauds, willful bank loan defaults, misuse of authority and embezzlement of state funds by government servants, etc.
Since its inception, NAB has recovered Rs285 billion and returned it to the national exchequer, which is a remarkable achievement.
Q: Clearly keeping NAB free of political influence has proved controversial right since its inception. Now, with the Supreme Court also questioning some of its tactics, does the Bureau intend to incorporate some changes of its own?
QZC: We cannot comment on matters regarding the Supreme Court, of course. And NAB does not work according to any tactics which might need changing. NAB works according to its mandate. Also, rather than comment on comments coming from others, I prefer to talk about verifiable, measurable numbers that indicate our performance.
For example, the PILDAT report for last year indicates that NAB enjoys greater public confidence than other organisations – 42pc, against 30pc for police and 29pc for government officials. Transparency International moved Pakistan from 175 in 2014 to 126 in 2015 to 117 in 2016 in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI). The World Economic Forum, too, noted and improvement in Pakistan, from 126 to 122, in its competitive report for 2016-17.
On Jan1, NAB signed an MOU with China to enhance cooperation in eradication of corruption. Under this MOU Pakistan and China will oversee transparency in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in Pakistan. Pakistan has also become the first Chairman of SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum. This shows that NAB’s Anti-Corruption Strategy has started yielding dividends.
Q: Why has the use of voluntary return and plea bargain proved so controversial in Pakistan? Surely, as you have mentioned repeatedly, since these schemes are used in a number of countries there should not be such hue and cry in Pakistan. Why is it subject of disagreement here?
QZC: I do not think it has proved controversial. It is part of the NAB Ordinance. Voluntary return is accepted at the inquiry stage, while the plea bargain is part of the investigation stage. In the latter, the matter is sent to the accountability court for approval. Also, all monies recovered are deposited with the national exchequer. Not one penny goes to NAB or any of its employees.
Almost every country of the world has plea bargain law which exists in Pakistan as well and, once again I stress, NAB has recovered an amount of Rs285 billion during its last 16 years while exercising this voluntary return law.
NAB also handed over a handsome amount to affectees of various scams including Double Shah scam, cooperatives scams and many housing societies scams.
However, plea bargain is not a practice to give a free hand to anyone but a government official has to get dismissal, while elected member of a public office gets ineligible for ten years, and a businessman has to lose facility he misused.
These practices go hand in hand with providing awareness about corruption as well. You should know that to create awareness against the ill effects of corruption among the youth of Pakistan, NAB and Higher Education Commission (HEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and subsequently over 42, 000 Character Building Societies (CBSs) have been established in universities, colleges and schools across the country during the last one year.
Q: It does seem as if sometimes, like in the Raisani case, influential and corrupt people are let off rather lightly. And considering the alleged politicisation of the Bureau over the years, the perception is hard to shake off. Does the Bureau intend to keep up this practice as it is?
QZC: This is more a matter of perception and how such matters are portrayed in the media. Firstly, Raisani was caught red handed. Then, during the investigation, he pointed to Sohail Majeed, and he was rounded up. The plea bargain recovers the embezzled amount in addition to surrender of one bungalow from Raisani and 11 bungalows belonging to Majeed.
NAB should be congratulated for this case. The chief minister, chief secretary, and especially the people of Balochistan have appreciated NAB’s performance in this regard.
Since they agreed to the plea bargain, which is a legal provision, it was NAB’s duty to turn the case to the accountability court, then it was for it to decide whether or not to accept the bargain. That is NAB’s duty and it did it to the full. By reaching conclusions without understanding the legal dynamics of such cases, media and people at large wrongly damage the reputation of a crucial organisation like NAB.
Q: Can you say with confidence that there is no official interference in the working of the Bureau?
QZC: I cannot stress enough that NAB is an independent, autonomous institution. It has no affiliations whatsoever with any people or parties. It is under no, I repeat no, political pressure. Also, please remember that I was appointed chairman after agreement between the government and opposition, and there was no controversy in the matter. Our job is to just keep doing our job and improve our working all the time, and that is what we focus on.
Therefore a lot of attention is paid to performance evaluation or all regional bureaus. NAB has devised a Combined Investigation System. The concept of CIS had indeed improved the quality of investigations as well as the professional capacity of Investigation officers (IOs). The Internal Accountability Mechanism (IAM) recently devised ensures quick and effective monitoring and evaluation of all levels of work force in NAB.
Remember NAB is just one arm of the accountability machinery. Everybody must play a part. The government, the social society, NGOs, and especially media. If all arms work together, we will indeed succeed in our mission of eradicating corruption from Pakistan.
