RAWALPINDI: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has said that the recovery of stolen money would be impossible in the absence of a plea bargain.
He was addressing a ceremony at the bureau headquarters in the Federal Capital on Tuesday, where he said that criticism of the plea bargain rule is biased and unreasonable.
The NAB chairman said that the bureau had pulled out all files related to hidden and forgotten corruption cases so that they could meet their deserved end as per the law and merit, adding that the NAB has recovered Rs297 billion from corrupt elements and deposited in the national exchequer since its inception.
Responding to criticism against the probe body and doubts that the bureau sidelines the law, he said that the department was being targeted as part of a well-organised propaganda strategy. “We have scrutinised all the legal aspects and the Supreme Court never called the authority unconstitutional and having Draconian Law,” he added.
Later, while speaking at cheque distribution ceremony among victims of three housing societies, the NAB chairman said that Pakistan’s biggest problem is dishonesty and assured that the anti-corruption watchdog is committed to rooting out corrupt elements under its ‘accountability for all policy’.
He distributed cheques amounting to Rs749.9 million among the affectees of Shaheen Foundation, Tele Town Housing Society and Chargia Housing Society, Wah.
