ISLAMABAD - Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice(R) Javed Iqbal has said that eradication of Corruption is top most priority of NAB. The present management of NAB has chalked out an effective and proactive anti-corruption strategy which has been acknowledged by Transparency International (TI), Pakistan, World Economic Forum, PILDAT and Mishal Pakistan. He said that the initiatives taken by the present management of NAB have started yielding excellent results.
In a statement issued by NAB spokesperson, due to NAB’s proactive strategy, NAB’s overall conviction ratio is about 68.8 percent which is a remarkable achievement in investigation of white collar crimes in the world.
He said that NAB has geared up and has been rejuvenated to eradicate corruption within all its forms and manifestations. He said that NAB’s prime focus is on corruption and corrupt practices i.e.; money laundering, cases of cheating public at large, bank frauds, willful bank loan defaults, misuse of authority and embezzlement of state funds.
Since NAB’s inception, one of NAB’s major achievements has been the recovery of around Rs.466.069 billion. Starting from the year 2017, which can be called basically a year of reinvigoration of NAB, we have moved with new zeal and effort after through detailed introspection and analysis of organisational weaknesses, overhaul of procedures and all pillars of the organisation i.e. Operations, Prosecution, Human Resource Management, Training and Research and Awareness and Prevention have been reactivated.
Chairman NAB said that the overall complaints in 2019 were 53643 and 42760 were processed, whereas complaints in 2018 were 48591 and 41414 were processed.
An increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trusted in the NAB. NAB during 2019, processed 1308 complaint verifications, 1686 inquiries and 609 investigations and recovered Rs 141.542 billion from corrupt elements in 2019. He said that NAB has introduced a new concept of Combined Investigation Team (CIT) 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.
He said that NAB has established its state of the art Forensic Science Laboratory in NAB Rawalpindi. In 2019, 15747 questioned documents and 300 thumb impressions were analysed in 50 cases and forensic analysis was carried out on 74 digital devices (Laptops, Mobile phones, Hard Disks etc).
He said that NAB is the focal organisation of United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) which is a pride for Pakistan due to NAB’s efforts. He said Pakistan is committed to United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in eradicating corruption through its three pronged Anti Corruption Strategy of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement which has started yielding excellent results under the dynamic leadership of Honorable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman NAB.
