Federal Law Minister Farooq Naek on Saturday vowed to take measures to cleanse the country’s major institutions free of corruption. The statement came after National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bukhari warned against using NAB as a political weapon to settle scores with their opponents.
Addressing a seminar at a local hotel, the NAB chief said it was unfortunate that 70 percent of the country’s legislators were not paying taxes and that certain politicians wanted to fill their pockets with the public money.
Bukhari said that to achieve their nefarious designs, such politicians were trying to use those institutions which were working against corruption in the country as “political weapons”.
“Using NAB against political rivals is quite dangerous,” he warned.
Calling for the eradication of corruption from grass root levels, the retired admiral urged the need for a proper planning and broadening the jurisdiction of NAB over all the national institutions. He said to curb anomalies on the grass roots levels, concerted efforts and the rule of law would have to be ensured in the country.
Bukhari said one should adopt a forward-looking approach to root out the corruption in the state.
Corruption, he said, must be preempted through preventive measures, something the NAB was focusing on.
Various steps, including launching of mass awareness campaign, were underway to make the national institutions free of corruption, he said.
Furthermore, he said that irregularities were also found in the tendering process that had to be investigated.
In his address, Naek told the gathering that the government was taking different measures to make the country’s major institutions corruption-free.
Lauding the role of NAB under Bukhari, the minister said the bureau was doing its job freely and in a transparent manner.
Terming corruption as a “white crime”, Naek said the accountability process should be transparent and must not be based on political victimisation.
He recalled that during Musharraf’s reign fake cases were fabricated against politicians including President Asif Ali Zardari.
“I pray for chairman NAB to keep accomplishing his work in the same bold and scrupulous manner,” the federal law minister added.
He said, as per law, no accused of corruption could directly be jailed until investigation was carried out to establish his wrongdoing. Any punishment, he said, must come from the courts that would then be executed by the government.
In most of corruption cases, Naek said the embezzled money was recovered through plea-bargaining. However, he said, even if the embezzled amount was recovered the unscrupulous person had to wash his hands from his job.
The NAB chairman is a 'TOOL'.
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