ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said corruption is curse.
“We must put it down with iron hands.” He said that in response to 94,165 applications, NAB selected on merit 97 officers during 2017. It was a gigantic task to select the best out of the best officers but not one sifarish or aberration has occurred in the entire process of recruitment of new batch of NAB officers recruited in 2017. He directed all NAB officers to double their efforts in eradication of corruption as eradication of corruption is national duty and NAB is committed to eradicating corruption by adopting zero tolerance policy.
Since its inception, NAB has recovered Rs 287 billion from corrupt and deposited in the national exchequer. He said that due to credibility of NAB, the figures of complaints, inquiries and investigations are almost double as compared to the same period of 2015 to 2017. The comparative figures for the latest three years are indicative of the hard work, transparency being put in by all ranks of NAB staff in an atmosphere of renewed energy and dynamism, where fight against corruption is being taken as a national duty. He said that reputable national and international organizations put their trust upon NAB and appreciated the performance of NAB. PILDAT in its report supported the position stated above as 42% people trusted NAB against 30% for police and 29 % for government officials. The report of 2016 released by Transparency International Pakistan’s rating has improved plus 9 points in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which is a great achievement for Pakistan due to NAB’s efforts. The World Economic Forum according to Global Competitiveness Index rated Pakistan from 126 to 122 this year which is great achievement of Pakistan due to efforts and measures taken by the present management of NAB to eradicate corruption from the country. He said that NAB has devised a comprehensive Quantified Grading System in NAB in order to review and further improve the performance of officers/officials of NAB. Under this grading system, NAB Regional Bureau’s are being evaluated for the last three years on annual and Midterm basis at a given criteria which has proved very successful and the performance of NAB’s Regional Bureaus is increasing day by day due to regular monitoring and inspection. He said that NAB is one of investigation agency of the world who has been prescribed for efficient, effective and expeditious disposal of all cases putting including white collar crime cases a maximum limit of 10 months- from complaint verification-to-inquiry-to-investigation and finally to a reference in the Accountability Court. He said that NAB has organized SAARC Seminar in Islamabad in which SAARC member countries including India had participated and appreciated the Anti-Corruption Strategy adopted by NAB in curbing corruption. Due to this reason, Pakistan is role model for SAARC countries due to NAB’s proactive and effective Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement Anti-Corruption Strategy and the measures taken by the present management of NAB during the last three years. NAB has also been selected first Chairman of SAARC countries Anti-Corruption Forum which is great achievement for Pakistan as well as NAB. He said that in order to further improve the capacity building of investigation officers of NAB, National Crime Agency (NCA) UK has carried out Training Need Analysis (TNA) for NAB in consultation with the concerned Division of NAB. The contents of five courses have been finalized and first course will start from October 2, 2017 in Pakistan in 06 identified fields by experts. He said that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is also in pipeline between NAB and NCA for cooperation in the Anti-Corruption work and sharing of training facilities after approval of the authorities at both ends. He said that NAB has established its own state of the art Forensic Science LAB in Islamabad. Now NAB intends to establish National Anti-Corruption Training Academy on the pattern of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy in Islamabad in order to further provide training and capacity building course for its investigation officers and prosecutors.
Published in Daily Times, August 28th 2017.
