Engineer S.T. Hussain has made some very sweeping remarks about NAB (A draconian institution) in his letter dated 1st March, 2009 in your newspaper. The correct perspective is as under; NAB follows a strict code of ethics and never resorts to torture during interrogation of the accused, as is the practice in other international institutions of accountability. All interrogations are done in the presence of a team comprising at least two investigation officers. There is complete transparency in the NAB operations and all decision making is done in meeting of an executive board chaired by the Chairman NAB or DG Provincial. All tiers of investigation and prosecution wings are represented in these meetings. All References filed in accountability courts and arrests etc are duly made public through press releases. Individual discretion is strictly prohibited. The system of plea bargain that Mr. Hussain has criticised has been highly successful and many billions of rupees of corrupt/looted money have been recovered after clearance of liabilities of the accused through the accountability courts. The accused may come out of jail after acceptance of plea bargain but stands convicted in the eyes of law and is declared ineligible for ten years to obtain credit/loan facility or apply for public office. This law has been especially helpful in providing relief and returning the looted money to the affectees of public scams. Remember how a four-star (retired) Admiral of the Navy was brought back from USA and was forced into returning US$ 7.5 million that he had made as a kickback in a submarine deal? Remember two dozen or so directors of forex companies who looted billions from thousands of depositors and are in jail at present? -BRIG (Retd) FAROOQ HAMEED KHAN, Ex-Director NAB Punjab, Lahore, via e-mail, March 1.