Islamabad - Chairman National Accountability Bureau, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has said that NAB is committed to eradicate corruption by using all its resources.
He said it is encouraging that for the first time anti-corruption has been made a part of development agenda in Pakistan in the context of governance. “The Planning Commission of Pakistan has included a chapter devoted to issues of corruption in the 11th five-year plan and we intend to work closely with Planning Commission to achieve the goals set in the 11th five-year plan,” he said.
He said that NAB believes across the board accountability on merit. An effective NAB’s anti-corruption strategy implemented during 2014 is yielding dividends and it will be continued in 2016.
The NAB under the leadership of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has chalked out a comprehensive National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) for eradication of corruption and corrupt practices throughout the country. The NAB has prosecuted the corrupt people and has recovered over Rs 4.5 billion of looted public money in the last one year bringing the total recovery to date to Rs 265.12 billion. The allocation to NAB for its working since creation is Rs 10.111 billion, which is only 3.74% of recoveries made by NAB. The numbers of applications received in 2014 were 40,077 which is double the number of complaints received in 2013. The increase in applications to NAB is reflective of people’s confidence in our work.
The litmus test of the efficiency and effectiveness of NAB’s efforts lies in the number of cases processed. The NAB on the directions of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has been rejuvenated / reinvigorated. In terms of inquiries, the NAB has completed 585 inquiries during the year 2014 as compared to 243 during 2013. Similarly as many as 188 investigations were concluded in 2014 as compared to 129 in 2013. As regards, the references filed in respective accountability courts in 2014, NAB has filed 208 references as compared to 135 during 2013.
It is in this context that PILDAT in its report has rated NAB’s performance at 42% based on public survey. This compares quite favorably to 29% public confidence in police and 26% in government officers working. The rate of success of NAB’s prosecution work in all courts is approximately 70%. The recent reports of Transparency International also rated Pakistan in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from 175 to 126 which is a great achievement for Pakistan due to NAB’s efforts.
To create awareness against the ill-effects of corruption among the youth of Pakistan, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). Over 10, 000 character building societies (CBSs) have been established by NAB in universities, colleges and schools to create awareness against corruption as youths are considered a vanguard in this fight.
The NAB has filed 12 references in the Rs 22 billion Modarba scam and recovered Rs. I billion and 73 Crore from Modaraba Scam, besides properties and vehicles. The NAB has so arrested 33 accused persons in this case. The NAB has also filed 9 references in rental power project cases in the respective accountability courts.
On the directions of the chairman NAB, a standard operating procedure (SOP) has already been devised to rationalise the workload and timelines have been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of cases putting a maximum limit of 10 months- from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to-investigation and finally to a reference in the Accountability Court. In order to ensure uniformity and standardization, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for investigation officers (IOs) in vogue were reviewed and revised after a gap of 10 years in order to benefit from the experience and collective wisdom of senior supervisory officers, a system of CIT comprising of Director, Additional Director, Investigation Officer and a Senior Legal Counsel has been put in place. This will not only lend quality to the work but also ensure that no single individual can influence the proceedings. The implementation of enforcement measures and prosecution matters is being monitored in NAB through daily, weekly and monthly reports and inspections.
The NAB has devised a comprehensive quantified grading system in NAB in order to review annual performance of NAB’s regional bureaus and further improve the performance of officers/officials of NAB. Under this grading system, NAB Regional Bureau’s performance (Operational Efficiency Index (OEI) are being evaluated at a given criteria 80% will be considered “Outstanding/Excellent”, marks between 60% to 79% will be considered as “Very Good”, marks between 40% to 49% will be considered as “Good”, while marks less than 40% will be considered as “Below Average”. The annual performance of all NAB’s Regional Bureaus under Quantified Grading System will be started in the first n week of January and will end in February 2016.
The NAB under the leadership of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has established integrity management cell in NAB headquarters. The NAB has also established internal accountability mechanism in order to encourage the culture of adherence to rules and SOPs and creating deterrence against indulging in violations and to weed out such elements that for reasons of inefficiency, misconduct, malpractice and violation of laid down SOPs/Rules bring a bad name to the organization.
The NAB has established its first forensic science lab in NAB Rawalpindi/Islamabad Regional Bureau. The forensic science lab has facilities of digital forensics, questioned documents and fingerprint analysis. The NAB has decided to give priority to corruption cases i.e.; normal cases from Rs. 100-200 million, Complex Cases from Rs. 500-1000 million and Mega Cases Rs. 1000 million and above for mega cases.
The NAB has developed Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) System catering the needs of all concerned having salient features of maintenance of data at each stage including complaint entry, complaint verification, inquiry, investigation, prosecution stage and record preservation of Regional Board Meetings and Executive Board Meetings including case brief, decisions made and list of participants attended the meeting with time & date and setting up of an effective Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) System and ability to analyze data in qualitative and quantitative form having warnings and alarms system for violators.
The NAB has introduction Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) for better career planning and HR Development. About 400 Refresher and capacity building training courses with the help of local and foreign partner’s organizations were conducted.
In line with Chairman NAB’s firm resolve and commitment to eradicate corruption and corrupt practices from the country, NAB and SECP have decided created a Joint Task Force comprising of senior level officers of NAB and SECP in order to work expeditiously on the corruption cases referred by SECP to NAB.
The NAB has proposed Ministry of Law and Justice that Whistle Blowing Protection Act is imperative for the country under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), legislation on Whistle Blowing is an obligation on Pakistan.
The Ministry of Law Division has sent Summary to the Honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan who has very graciously approved Whistle Blower Protection Bill which has sent to Cabinet Division for placing before the Federal Cabinet for further necessary action. On the directions of Chairman NAB, NAB’s recruited 110 Investigation officers through NTS on merit.
On the directions of Chairman NAB, the newly recruited 110 Investigation Officers are being trained at Police Training College Sihala on modern lines. NAB has also planned establishment of NAB’s Anti-Corruption Academy at Islamabad for capacity building of NAB officers/Officials on the pattern of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy.