ISLAMABAD - Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) took over the reins of the bureau on Oct 11, 2017. He was appointed as chairman in consensus with the then opposition and the government on merit due to his honesty, dedication and reputation of working according to the rules. Almost everyone, who knows the NAB Chairman, acknowledges his professional capabilities, honesty and adherence to working on merit. The chairman accepted the coveted post as a challenge, as he believed that it is the people who make an institution reputable and by working honestly and with dedication, institutional strengthening could be ensured besides earning the respect of the people. Justice Javed Iqbal’s policy during his tenure as a judge of Supreme Court was “Justice for All” and now as Chairman NAB his policy is “Accountability for All.”

Eradication of corruption, zero tolerance against corruption and self accountability has been the foremost policy of the chairman during his tenure, which is being pursued by his office with letter and spirit.

The officers of NAB have no affiliation with any political party but they are only the employees of the state and are performing their duties without any discrimination and as per the law. All inquiries and investigations are being completed within the jurisdiction of law. The anti-corruption strategy of chairman is being acknowledged across the globe as one of the most effective strategies against corruption.

He has transformed NAB into a vibrant institute within a short span of time. The whole nation trusts NAB in accomplishing the task of eradication of corruption. Justice Javed not only appreciates dedicated officers but also believes in dealing strictly with corrupt and inept officers. With NAB’s headquarter in Islamabad, as many as eight regional bureaus are working in various cities including Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Multan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

NAB has fixed 10 months period for completing the whole process of filing a reference from conducting inquiries to investigations. The chairman has already taken notice of various cases and ordered conducting inquiries in the last two years including inquiries to probe corruption in 56 public limited companies of Punjab, looting peoples’ money under the garb of different housing societies and arrest of proclaimed offenders. The chairman directed relevant civil authorities to place the lists of approved housing societies at their respective websites and also inform people by giving ads in different newspapers.

The chairman also conducted ‘open Kutcheries’ on last Thursday of every month with an aim to resolve people’s problems. Till date 3,000 complainants had personally met with the chairman and had lodged their complaint directly with him.  The chairman has also directed director generals of regional bureaus to conduct ‘open kutcheries’ at their respective offices on every last Thursday of every month and to listen and redress peoples’ grievances. The chairman has also chaired 25 NAB’s Executive board meetings, in which, complaint verifications, inquiries and investigations were approved.

The conviction ratio of NAB is 70 percent. NAB is utilizing all available resources for eradication corruption of all kinds. NAB received twice the number of complaints in 2019 as compared to 2018.

Data of the last two years reflected that the bureau’s officers considered eradication of corruption as their national duty. NAB is also role model among South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries and was nominated as the first chairman of SAARC Anti Corruption Forum. NAB has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China.

 NAB does not believe in discrimination against anyone. It only considers ‘case and not the face’. NAB is strictly adhering to the ‘Accountability for All’ policy, which was introduced by the chairman immediately after taking charge of the bureau.

Chairman has done sincere efforts of eradication of corruption in last one year and bureau is determined to implement the policy of ‘NAB’s Faith – Corruption free Pakistan’ under the leadership of Justice Javed Iqbal.