ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has said the bureau was established as Pakistan’s apex anti-corruption organisation with the aim of eliminating corruption, recovering the money looted through corrupt practises and depositing it in the national exchequer.
He said this while addressing the inaugural session, as a chief guest of 22nd Annual DGs Conference held at the NAB Headquarter. The conference will continue till September 27, 2017.
Speaking at length about his responsibilities as NAB Chairman, he said, “I have taken various initiatives to revamp NAB. NAB has devised a comprehensive and effective National Anti-Corruption Strategy that entails a holistic approach of awareness, prevention and enforcement. The approach adopts zero tolerance policy across the board to eradicate corruption”.
He said that NAB operates under the National Accountability Ordinance-1999 which is extended to all of Pakistan including FATA and Gilgit-Baltistan. He said that the Bureau has its National Headquarter in Islamabad and five Regional Bureaus located in Lahore, KP, Baluchistan, Karachi and Rawalpindi/Islamabad.
“Under the present management of NAB, we have established three new Regional Bureaus at Multan, Sukkur and Gilgit Baltistan to address the complaints of people living in far flung areas, regarding corruption and corrupt practices.
He said that 2014 was a year of rejuvenation of NAB. Through detailed introspection and analysis of organizational weaknesses, all pillars of the organization including Operations, Prosecution, Human Resource Development and Awareness and Prevention had been reactivated.
Chaudhry said that NAB’s operational methodology comprises complaint verification, inquiry and investigation. He said that the comparative figures from 2014 to 2017 are indicative of the hard work being put in by all ranks of NAB staff in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism. He added that the NAB took the fight against corruption as a national duty. Increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trust in the NAB.
He said that NAB improved infrastructure and rationalized workload. Timelines were prescribed for efficient and expeditious disposal of case, with a maximum limit of 10 months- from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to investigation and finally to a reference in Accountability Court. In order to ensure uniformity and standardization, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for investigation officers (IOs) were reviewed and revised after a gap of 10 years in order to benefit from the experience of senior supervisory officers. A system of CIT comprising Director, Additional Director, Investigation Officer and a Senior Legal Counsel had also been put in place. This does not only lend quality to the work but also ensures that no 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. NAB has established its first Forensic Science Lab (FSL) in NAB Rawalpindi which has facilities of Digital Forensics, Questioned Documents and Fingerprint Analysis. Since NAB’s inception, one of NAB’s major achievements is recovery of around Rs. 290 billion from corrupt practises.
He said that NAB had organized SAARC Seminar in Islamabad in 2015 in which SAARC member countries including India participated. The SAARC countries praised the Anti-Corruption Strategy adopted by NAB in curbing corruption. Today, NAB is the first Chairman of SAARC countries Anti-Corruption Forum which is great achievement for the country.