LAHORE: Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB, chairing a meeting at the NAB Headquarters, said corruption is root cause of all evils. Corruption not only causes delays to the early completion of development projects but also does huge losses to national exchequer. It also increases inflation in the country decreasing the buying power of common man. NAB committed to eradicating corruption by using all its resources with absolute professionalism and transparency.
Chairman NAB said the NAB developed a Partly Quantified Grading System (PQGS) in 2014 to review and evaluate the performance of all the NAB Regional Bureaus about their strengths and weaknesses. This initiative proved very encouraging and effective in enhancing the performance of NAB’s regional bureaus which has now become a regular part of NAB’s working.
He said NAB’s operational methodology has set three stages for proceeding of cases viz-a-viz complaint verification, inquiry and investigation. He said the figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations have almost doubled as compared to the same period of 2015 to 2016. Increase in the number of complaints also reflects enhanced public trust in the NAB. The PILDAT, in its report, supports the position stated above as 42% people trust NAB against 30 % for police and 29 % for government officials.
The recent report of Transparency International reported nine points improvement in Corruption Perception Index (CPI). The World Economic Forum and Mishal Pakistan, according to Global Competitiveness Index, rated Pakistan from 126 to 122.
He said more than 42,000 Character Building Societies (CBS) have been set up in universities and colleges. This initiative of NAB has proved very successful to aware students of the ill-effects of corruption.