National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has said that the eradication of corruption was the authority’s the top priority.
He said this while chairing a monthly coordination meeting here on Monday to review the progress on the decisions taken in the previous monthly coordination meeting.
The chairman said that the NAB had chalked out a proactive national anti-corruption strategy to curb corruption.
During the last 16 years, the NAB has received around 326,694 complaints from individuals and private/public organizations.
During this period NAB has authorized 10,992 complaint verification, 7,303 inquiries, 3,648 investigations, and filed 2,667 corruption references in respective accountability courts and with an overall conviction rate of around 76 percent.
The NAB’s prime focus is on fraudulent financial companies, banks, willful bank loan defaults, misuse of authority and the embezzlement of state funds by government servants etc.
One of NAB’s major achievements has been the recovery of around Rs 285 billion of ill-gotten money.
“The figures for the last two years were 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 was being taken as a national duty,” he said. “The Increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trust in the NAB.”
PILDAT also supports the NAB’s position, and in its report claimed that 42% people trusted the authority compared to 30% for the police and 29 % for government officials.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and in a very short span established over 42, 000 character building societies (CBSs) in universities and colleges to create awareness against corruption in the Pakistani youth.
The chairman said that the NAB has filed 12 references in the Rs 22 billion Modarba scam and recovered Rs I.73 billion in the Modaraba scam, besides properties and vehicles. 34 persons also have been arrested in connection with the scam.
He said that the NAB had established its first forensic science lab with facilities of digital forensics, questionable documents, and fingerprint analysis. The NAB also had hosted the first SAARC Seminar in Islamabad where the heads of SAARC’s anti-corruption authorities agreed to the creation of a SAARC anti-corruption forum.
The chairman added that the NAB had devised standard operating procedures (SOPs) for their workload and timelines have been prescribed for the efficient disposal of cases, with a maximum limit of 10 months from complaint verification to filing of a reference in the accountability courts.
The NAB hopes that joint efforts of all stakeholders can collaborate to check corruption before happening with the help of all stakeholders, civil society, media and people at large, he said.