ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has said that corruption is the mother of all evils as it undermines economic development and deprives deserving persons of their due right as per law.
While chairing a meeting of the Bureau, the chairman said that Pakistan was committed to United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in eradicating corruption in all its manifestations by implementing its articles through its three-pronged anti-corruption strategy of awareness, prevention and enforcement.
He said that NAB, since its inception, received about 399,861 complaints from individuals and private/public organisations. During this period, the Bureau authorised 13,180 complaint verifications, 8,587 inquiries, 4,124 investigations and filed 3,401 corruption references in respective accountability courts. Currently, 12,10 corruption references are under trial in respective accountability courts across the country.
The figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations were almost double as compared to the same period of 2017 to 2018, he added.
Justice (r) Javed Iqbal said that the comparative figures for the latest one year 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. Increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trusted in the NAB, he added.
The NAB chairman went on to say that the prime focus was 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 NAB’s inception, the Bureau had recovered Rs297 billion, which was deposited in the national exchequer.