ISLAMABAD - Chairman National Accountability Bureau Justice (R) Javed Iqbal yesterday chaired a high level meeting to review the latest progress on mega corruption cases.

According to the NAB headquarters press release, the meeting was informed that out of 179 mega corruption cases, 66 cases have been brought to a logical conclusion by the Accountability Courts as per law while 93 corruption cases are pending in the courts for trial.

The Chairman expressed satisfaction over the performance of NAB in mega corruption cases.

The meeting was informed that out of 66 mega corruption cases have been brought to a logical conclusion while various accountability courts have sentenced the accused to a total of Rs. 4.364 billion as per law on the basis of solid evidence in 12 mega corruption cases.

According to the verdicts, Abdul Qadir Tawakal and others were fined Rs 613 million, Ishtiaq Hussain of Messrs Buraq Syndicate Rawalpindi and others awarded fine Rs 200 million, Pakistan Medical Cooperative Housing Society management and land suppliers sentenced Rs 70 million, Haris Afzal son of Sher Muhammad Afzal and others to Rs 1 billion. Seth Nisar Ahmed and others were sentenced Rs 179.069 million, Sheikh Mohammad Afzal Chief Executive / Director Harris Steel Industry Pvt Ltd and others to Rs 331 million, Raza Habib Chief Executive, Mrs. Shumaila Messrs. Janat Apparel Pvt Ltd Faisalabad were fined to Rs 174 million  Sheikh Muhammad Afzal sentenced to Rs 435 million, Galaxy City Rawalpindi management and others to Rs 213 million, Syed Mureed Kazim, former provincial minister  for revenue Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ahsanullah, a former senior member of the Board of Revenue and others, was fined Rs 200 million, while Saeed Akhtar, general manager of Pakistan Railways, and others were fined $3.78 million.

While in 6 cases, NAB recovered a total of Rs. 7.859 billion from the accused through voluntary returns and deposited it in the national treasury.

Among them, the management of Al-Hamra Hills and Eden Builders collected Rs. 1.902 billion and  Management and others returned  Rs. 80 million, M. Amjad Aziz Chief Executive Officer Divine Developers Pvt. Ltd. and others returned Rs. 313.308 million, Khushal Associates Nowshera and others returned Rs.60 million, while Shahnawaz Marri, former provincial sports minister Balochistan, has given Rs 14 million through plea bargain.

Meanwhile, Riaz Ahmed, former project director, police department, Balochistan, voluntarily returned Rs 5.5 billion and the amount is deposited them in the national treasury.

It was informed in the meeting that according to the law, the accused in 4 mega corruption cases made a plea bargain through which a total of Rs 1.256 billion were recovered by the NAB from the accused and deposited in the national treasury.

Syed Masoom Shah, former special assistant to Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and others returned Rs. 300 million, Messrs. Capital Builders Pvt. Ltd. (New Islamabad Garden, Islamabad) and others contributed Rs. 440 million, the management and land supplier of Messrs. Teletown Pvt.  Rao Fahim Yasin, Rao Nadeem Yasin, Rao Naveed Yasin and all the partners of Messers. Wind Mills Restaurant Lahore and others made a plea bargain of Rs. 205 million.

During the meeting, Justice (R) Javed Iqbal said that eradication of corruption from the country and recovery of money looted from the nation by corrupt elements is the top priority of NAB.  Since inception, NAB deposited Rs 822 billion directly and indirectly in while under the leadership of Justice (R) Javed Iqbal in the last more than three years, Rs. 535 billion which is an ample evidence of the NAB’s excellent performance against corrupt elements across the board.

NAB’s 1,273 corruption references of Rs 1,305 billion are currently pending in various accountability courts of the country.  

The Chairman directed all the regional bureaus of NAB to follow up in the courts in accordance with the law in the light of solid evidence, authentic documents and witness statements of NAB cases.  

He also said that NAB is pursuing a policy of accountability for all which has started showing excellent results.  NAB is the UN’s focal body under the UNCAC. It is also the chairman of the SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum.

NAB’s performance and efficiency have been recognized by reputable national and international institutions.

According to the Gilani & Gallup poll, 59 per cent of the people trust the NAB. The conviction rate of NAB accused is 66 percent, which is the highest among other anti-corruption agencies.

The chairman also said that NAB’s affiliation is not with any political party, group and individual but with the state of Pakistan. NAB and Pakistan can go together but NAB and corruption cannot go together.

He said that NAB’s faith is corruption free Pakistan. NAB officers should play their full role in accordance with the law to eradicate corruption from the country by following the policy of zero tolerance in accordance with the law without heeding any propaganda.